In the midst of considering a potential lawsuit against the City of Milpitas, former City Manager Steve McHarris has filed a claim against the City, detailing his grievances and shedding light on the nature of his conflict with the City Attorney and certain members of the City Council.
Back in February, Council voted 3-2 in closed session not to extend McHarris’s contract come June, leaving residents to speculate as to why he was being let go. The Council has not explained its reasoning, but the 24-page claim obtained last month by The Milpitas Beat paints a picture of retaliatory motives behind McHarris’s ousting, stemming from his tense relationship with former Mayor Rich Tran…
Increasingly Strained
The claim, submitted on May 1, specifies Mayor Carmen Montano, Vice Mayor Evelyn Chua, and City Attorney Michael Mutalipassi as being responsible for the damages experienced by McHarris. It accuses the City of breaching McHarris’s employment contract, damaging McHarris’s reputation, fostering intolerable working conditions for him, and cultivating a hostile work environment consisting of harassment and bullying.
In the claim, McHarris states that after the Council voted not to renew his contract in early February, his relationships with Mutalipassi, Mayor Montano, and Vice Mayor Chua became “increasingly strained.” He claims that all three would physically go out of their way to avoid him at City Hall, and also significantly reduced contact with him in general.
McHarris states in the claim that even before that, while he was on the job, he was coerced when it came to how he managed the staff.
Specifically, McHarris recounts in the claim that then-Mayor Tran and Vice Mayor Montano pressured him to fire a specific City employee over unsubstantiated racism, and when he refused to do so, he was “confident his not succumbing to their threats would result in future retaliation.” In addition, according to the claim, then-Vice Mayor Montano pressured McHarris to terminate a Milpitas Fire Department employee due to political motives. Montano also in February 2022 pressured McHarris to hire a friend of hers to a City social services position, despite the individual having been unsuccessful in the interview process, according to the claim.
The claim document contains numerous recountings of a similar nature. McHarris depicts Montano and Chua as being overly critical of him while dishonoring, ignoring, or not understanding the core functions of the City Manager’s job, and asking things of him he had no power to deliver on (like establishing No Parking and No Loitering zones around the city or blocking any administrative attempt at a recall of Mayor Montano). According to McHarris, his fraught relationship with Council and Mutalipassi lowered City Hall morale while negatively impacting the City’s ability to deliver services. He likewise recounts a string of incidents in which he saw Montano as being unprepared or exhibiting a poor memory.
McHarris also mentions in the claim that Mayor Montano frequently stated to him that Councilmember Anthony Phan is an atheist and that then-Councilmember Karina Dominguez is “the devil and evil,” and that he shouldn’t trust them.
Also included in McHarris’ claim is mention of “Montano’s controversial visit to China as a Councilmember.” The claim states that the City Attorney received direction to prepare an amendment to the City’s open government ordinance that would essentially cover up the trip. However, such an amendment was never instituted.
McHarris also noted how Council invested $88,000 in his professional development this fiscal year, with $50,000 of that cost used to send him to Harvard University in July 2022. At the same time, he notes that Council was also “fabricating a poor and unsubstantiated performance evaluation with no documented evidence of diminished performance.”
Accusations toward Rich Tran
Key to the complaint is a repeated assertion that former Mayor Rich Tran told City Council/Mayoral candidates that if they wanted him to endorse them in the 2022 election, they would need to remove Steve McHarris from his job as a first order of business if elected. McHarris claims that both Mayor Montano and Councilmember Garry Barbadillo, who were both heavily endorsed by Tran during election season, were subject to this arrangement.
Former Mayor Tran is also mentioned in the claim as someone who “inflicted ongoing belittlement, harassment, and intimidation, commencing late 2021 through 2022 causing undue stress to the City Manager…”
“I deny everything in that document of claims. I’m willing to go under oath to state my innocence,” said Tran in an interview with The Beat.
Tran went on to state, “I have faith that our City Council and Mayor will be found innocent. It’s just a way that executives in all industries, including government, try to make money.”
When Tran came into office in 2016, he faced similar issues. Tom Williams, the City Manager at the time, was waging his own battle against the City, making claims of ageism and a hostile work environment. The issue was resolved in 2019, with Williams receiving $1,372 in damages after he had asked for $1 million.
Where Things Stand
McHarris claims that Milpitas City Attorney Mutalipassi offered him a $10,000 settlement, but offered nothing for McHarris’ $20,000 in attorney fees. A settlement was therefore never reached.
As mentioned, McHarris is presently considering waging his own lawsuit against the City of Milpitas. The claim document obtained by The Beat and summarized herein is built upon an extended “Summary of Facts” section yet in and of itself does not constitute legal evidence.
McHarris’ contract, which was not renewed, officially expired on June 3, 2023. On April 3, McHarris took a leave of absence, due to his father experiencing health issues, and never returned to his City Manager position. Assistant City Manager Ashwini Kantak served as Acting City Manager during McHarris’ absence; at Tuesday’s council meeting, Ned Thomas, who has served as Milpitas’ Planning Director since 2018, was named as the City’s new Interim City Manager.
When asked what she thinks about McHarris naming her in his claim, Vice Mayor Chua told the Beat: “I refute all claims made by Mr. McHarris.”
At Tuesday’s Council meeting, Councilmember Hon Lien asked if discussion about McHarris’ claim could be taken into closed session; but with only Councilmember Anthony Phan agreeing with her, there was no consensus from council to move forward.
After the meeting, Lien expressed her frustration to The Beat: “The community needs to know what’s going on with the claim. We need to be transparent,” said Councilmember Lien. “That’s why I wanted to bring it to closed session. Because I want to know what the next step is.”
Mayor Montano adamantly denied McHarris’ accusations: “His claims against the city are false, and we look forward to defending ourselves in court.”
As the situation unfolds, The Beat will provide more coverage.
We have been hearing about the toxic environment Mayor Tran and his allies created for years and it seems to be continuing. We deserve better. We need to know why they fired Mr McHarris. Also Mayor Montano‘s supposed nepotism and the China trip. Goodness, what a soap opera.
Can’t wait to see the depositions of Hon Lien and Juliet Gomez. Awfully funny Tran endorsed Hon then unexpectedly withdrew it. Hmmm
Former mayor Tran and his cronies dancing ???? to his tune. City manager McHarris has been a good manager. I worked with him as a planning chair when he was a planning director.
Very ethical person. I wish him success.
Power corrupts people, more so in this city. Where mayor wants to be forever mayor and not give up on his chair.
More people should see through this and not become followers like sheep.