Blue Lake city government falls deeper into turmoil

Things have gotten awfully muddy in Blue Lake. The city council’s decision to part ways with longtime City Manager Amanda Mager early last month has laid bare deep divisions in the small city of about 1,200 residents, prompting an extended series of social media spats between those applauding the newly elected council majority’s move and those decrying it and a lack of transparency in the process. Things came further to a head last week, when a group of residents used the public comment period of the Blue Lake City Council’s May 27 meeting to serve its three newly elected members — Councilmember Kat Napier, Mayor Pro-tem Elise Scafani and Mayor John Sawatzky — with official notices of an effort underway to recall them from office. News then broke two days later (via the Lost Coast Outpost’s Ryan Burns) that another councilmember, Christopher Firor, one of only two holdovers from the previous council, had resigned his post two minutes before that meeting began. Here’s a brief rundown of what we know about Mager’s separation from the city, the recall effort under way and Firor’s resignation. No Paper Trail It remains unclear who on the Blue Lake City Council decided the city should part ways with former City Manager Amanda “Mandy” Mager after 10 years of service, and when the decision was made, much less why. The council met in closed session May 6 to discuss Mager’s employee performance, as it had done five times previously since the start of the year, but reported having taken no action at the meeting. Two days later, amid rumors Mager had been fired, the city released a statement saying she “and the city council have mutually decided to end their relationship May 9.” The council then voted unanimously 4-0, with Firor absent, on May 13 to ratify a separation agreement with Mager, the provision of which included the wording of the May 8 announcement, indicating the separation agreement had been reached in principle prior. Experts told the Journal this is an apparent violation of California transparency laws, which require that final employment decisions by a council — like deciding to enter into a separation agreement — be made in an official meeting and be reported out of closed session. (They say the council again violated the law May 13 when the city failed to put separating Mager from her employment with the city or ratification…