How to pick a new city mgr.?

A special meeting of the Garden Grove City Council has been called by Mayor Steve Jones for Thursday to address the departure of City Manager Scott Stiles to take a similar job in Palm Springs.

The meeting will be held in closed session at 6:30 p.m. in the Community Meeting Center, 11300 Stanford Ave.

Stiles, who took the job as Garden Grove’s top appointed official seven and one-half years ago – see related story this page – after leaving the assistant city manager post in Cincinnati, informed the council on Friday, Jan. 27 that he would be leaving at the end of February and taking his new post on March 6.

In the past, when vacancies have occurred in the city manager’s chair, the council has either hired an interim city manager from outside the city or promoted from inside City Hall.

When the last vacancy occurred in 2014 with the retirement – under pressure – of Matt Fertal – an interim city manager was appointed and a nationwide search was conducted, concluding with the hiring of Stiles.

Allan L. Roeder, a former Costa Mesa City Manager, served as interim manager until Stiles took office in 2015.