During the Monday, Aug. 12 closed session, the City Council accepted the city manager’s resignation, effective Oct. 31, according to City Attorney Nicholas Ghirelli.
The city attorney reported the news during his report to the public session of the council.
No reason was provided for the resignation.
The Sun will publish a chronological history of Ingram’s Seal Beach career in the near future.
“During the closed session, the City Council received notice from City Manager Jill Ingram that she will resign no later than October 31st, 2024 and she eventually intends to retire,” Ghirelli said.
“The City Council accepted Ms. Ingram’s resignation and approved a separation and release agreement by a vote of four to zero with one abstention,” Ghirelli said.
(The Sun has filed a California Public Records Act request for a copy of the separation agreement.)
He said council members Joe Kalmick, Tom Moore, Schelley Sustarsic, and Lisa Landau, voted aye and Councilman Steele abstained.
“A press release will be issued shortly that provides further information on Miss Ingram’s retirement and the City Council thanks Miss Ingram for long and dedicated service,” Ghirelli said.
The press release arrived at 4:30 p.m., Tuesday, Aug. 13. The headline read “City manager to retire.”
“Ms. Ingram has worked for the City of Seal Beach since 2008, serving as Assistant to the City Manager, Assistant City Manager, and Interim City Manager prior to her appointment to City Manager in 2011,” said the press release.
“The City Council thanks Ms. Ingram for her long and dedicated service to the City and wishes her well in her retirement,” said the press release
“It has been an honor and privilege to serve the Seal Beach community for the past 16 years,” said Ingram in the press release.
“Working alongside the hardest working and most dedicated team of experienced professionals to provide the highest level of services and programs to the Seal Beach community each day has been an absolute blessing, and I wish many continued successes for the City and its incredibly talented and dedicated staff team.”
The Sun requested comments from all five current council members and past council members, as well as Ingram.
The city manager’s performance evaluation was also on the closed session agenda for July 22 and before that on the March 25 closed session agenda.
As reported in the March 14, 2024 edition, The Sun reviewed the closed session and special meeting agendas of the City Council back to Aug. 9, 2021 and found no more recent record of such an evaluation. (See “Officials talking about city manager evaluation,” at sunnews.org.)
Article 6 of the current city manager’s contract required annual evaluations. Earlier this year, Seal Beach resident Hope Horning had twice asked the council to evaluate the city manager’s performance.
It is not yet known how much money the city will pay Ingram to separate from the city. It is not yet known what impact the separation agreement will have on the city budget. (The five-year projection estimated a surplus of more than $20,000 at the end of the 2024-25 fiscal year.)
According to Transparent California, a website provided by the Nevada Policy Research Institute, in 2022, Seal Beach City Manager Ingram made $274,807.92 in regular pay and received total pay of $301,577.17.
However, the California Controler’s Office report on government compensation reported that in 2023, Ingram received total wages of $332,093. (The state does not audit the figures.)
Comments from current and former council members
Former council member Michael Levitt, who now lives in Beaumont, California, was brief. “Charles, without knowing the reason for her resignation, I would withhold any specific comments. She was experienced, did an average job of running our city, but demonstrated poor judgment on some instances. More than that, I cannot say. For now,” Levitt wrote.
Current District Five Councilman Nathan Steele was also brief. “I am disappointed that she is leaving. She’s been an effective and successful CEO. She will be greatly missed by me. I can’t yet say more,” Steele wrote.
District Four Council Member/Mayor Schelly Sustarsic wrote: “I cannot comment.”
(According to a League of California Cities primer on the Brown Act—the state’s public meeting law—closed session discussions are considered confidential. “The Brown Act prohibits the disclosure of confidential information acquired in a closed session by any person present and offers various remedies to address willful breaches of confidentiality,” according to Cal Cities. However, according to Cal Cities, a government body may collectively authorize the release of information abuot the closed session.)
District Four Planning Commisioner and past mayor Patty Campbell wrote: “This city needs new leadership and needs to move in another direction: one that focuses on, and listens to, what the residents want.”
13 years as city manager
Ingram kept the job for a longer period of time than many city managers.
According to a www.cacitymanagers.org press release issued in 2023, a city manager’s tenure averaged three to four years. During her first interview with the Sun following her appointment, Ingram put the average city manager tenure at three to six years.
An International City/County Management Association report issued in 2003 found the average tenure of a city manager was 6.9 years in the year 2000.
Ingram was Seal Beach city manager from July 2011 to October 2024, slightly more than 13 years. Before that, she was assistant to the city manager from October 2008 to July 2011, per Ingram’s own LinkedIn page.
She was hired by council members Ellery Deaton (District One), David Sloan (District Two), Gordon Shanks (District Three), Gary Miller (District Four), and Michael Levitt (District Five).
In Seal Beach, voters choose council members with each one representing a different district. City Council members choose a city manager. It takes a majority of three votes out of five to fire a city manager.
Brief history
In her July 2011 inaugural interview, she told the Sun she regretted that her dad didn’t live to see her be hired to the position. Her father, an Old Town resident for three decades, passed away in December 2010. At the time, Ingram told the Sun that she wanted to be “a recognizable face” in the community.
Following Ingram’s decision to place the popular then-Police Chief Joe Stilinovich on leave following a complaint (details of which were never made public), in October 2016, a petition was posted on Change.org calling for her termination. It received 284 signatures in all and was last updated five years ago.
In March 2017, six former council members signed an open letter to the council calling for Ingram’s termination. On that same night, uniformed Seal Beach Police officers and Volunteers in Policing attended the City Council meeting to show support for the investigation of former chief Stilinovich, support for City Manager Jill Ingram, and support for Interim Police Chief Joe Miller. Ingram kept her job.
In June 2019, the council authorized Ingram to delegate her authority to approve contracts below the threshold that required City Council approval.
Ingram’s administration initiated the yearly strategic planning meeting between council and staff, which was usually held in day-long sessions away from the City Council Chambers and hiring outside vendors to be on-call to provide services.
Her administration dealt with the 2011 Salon Meritage shootings and the 2016 Pier Fire. The city provided grief counselors to the families of the victims. Ingram and then-Chief Stilinovich were among the city officials present at the fire.
Her administration was marked by controversies over a trip to Alaska (the District Attorney’s Office found no evidence that a crime had been committed that could be proved beyond a reasonable doubt), placing Stilinovich on leave following a “serious allegation” details of which were never made public, and issues over the city finances.
