In an unusually testy session Sept. 17, Phoenix City Council rehired the city manager who retired four years ago as four members criticized the haste and seeming secrecy of the process.
Ed Zuercher, who worked his way up City Hall’s ranks over 28 years from an administrative intern to Phoenix’s top administrator, replaces the man he lobbied for as his replacement when he retired in 2011.
Zuercher will earn $415,542 a year when he assumes the position Nov. 17, the day after City Manager Jeff Barton retires.
Zuercher’s surprise return to the office he held for 11 years did not go smoothly as some council members criticized the absence of a transparent hiring process that considered no other internal or external candidates or citizen input.
Mayor Kate Gallego led the 5-4 vote that brings Zuercher back to City Hall, with Vice Mayor Ann O’Brien and council members Debra Stark, Kevin Robinson, Jim Waring joining her.
Two main themes emerged among opponents, who included council members Betty Guardado, Anna Hernandez, Laura Pastor and Kesha Hodge Washington.
One involved alleged civil rights violations by Phoenix Police during his tenure at the helm of a city that employs over 14,500 workers.
The other involved the fact that Zuercher’s hiring came only a month after Barton announced his retirement.
Even some members who voted for Zuercher conceded the hiring process was not the norm – especially for the top administrator of the nation’s fifth largest city.
“This was some sort of secret process,” Waring said. “My whole involvement was one council person called me and said, ‘Hey, Ed Zuercher, might be interested in coming back.’ And I said, ‘That’s great’. And I called Ed Zuercher, and he said, ‘Yep, I might be interested in coming back.’ And I said, ‘That’s great.’ Now here we are.”
Gallego left no question about her feelings about Zuercher by kicking off the council’s discussion of his hiring with a ringing endorsement.
“I am pleased to support Ed Zuercher to be our next city manager,” Gallego said. “He loves Phoenix. He loves its history, its people, its diversity and its promise. He was the right person to lead us in the past, when he helped us get through the Great Recession – some of the most difficult times for our city.
“But what matters much more is he is the right person to lead us into the future,” the mayor continued. “Phoenix is one of the fastest growing cities in America, and not by accident. We are a city built on innovation and technology, and are home to some of the most important companies in America.
“We’re home to some of the smartest and hardest working people out there, and our city government has made significant progress on a host of issues, but we also have significant challenges ahead.
“There is uncertainty in our economy, chaos at the federal level, and a meaningful number of departures from our executive teams. Ed is up to the task.
“What we get with Ed is not only a world-class municipal leader and innovator, but a person of high character who epitomizes what it means to be a servant leader,” the mayor said. “He’s also inspired a sense of public service, collaboration and care for community among all city employees.”
Hiring process debated
While Gallego side-stepped the haste with which Zuercher was hired, even some of those who voted for him did not.
Hernandez, his harshest critic, said, “The fact that we are voting on this contract in such a rushed manner should be raising alarms for all of us.
“This process was rushed,” she continued. “There was a lack of transparency and a disregard for our city staff, for unions, for our communities, and even for some of the members on this council.”
Hernandez added, “I have serious concerns for the impact of forcing this choice on the people of the city and onto city staff. This action is disrespectful to those employees of the city and disrespectful to city leadership, who also may have wanted to compete for this role.
“I am confident that we could have found our next city manager among some of the amazing individuals working under Jeff Barton’s leadership. We are shooting ourselves in the foot, and I am ashamed of this entire process.”
Despite his criticism of that process, Robinson echoed Waring.
“I think as Councilman Waring pointed out,” Robinson said, “we’ve had other processes for the top position in this city where there, the process was done rather quickly, without a whole lot of involvement by a lot of other groups, and sometimes, as others have said, that’s the way it goes, where the elected officials were the elected body to make these types of decisions.”
“And as I stated earlier,” Robinson continued, “I wasn’t real excited about the process, but I get it. I think that’s what it takes. Sometimes, especially in these positions, these leadership positions, sometimes you have to make a decision, sometimes you pivot a little bit. Sometimes you do what you think is the right thing to do, and in this situation it is.”
O’Brien indicated another reason why the slim majority of council members turned to Zuercher.
She cited the departure of several major administration figures – including Water Services Manager Troy Hayes, Community and Economic Development Director Christine Mackay, Deputy City Manager John Chan and Assistant City Manager Inger Erickson.
They come at a time when Phoenix faces the possibility of an economic downturn aggravated by steep revenue losses and a looming 2026-27 budget deficit of more than $80 million, close to 600 empty police officer slots, and uncertainty about Phoenix’s share of Colorado River water.
“We are saying goodbye to other key leaders with decades of experience and institutional knowledge,” O’Brien said. “At a time like this, we need a leader who can, can and will hit the ground running. That’s why I believe Ed Zuercher is the right person for Phoenix.”
Police allegations debated
Hernandez, the South Phoenix representative who has been a strident critic of Phoenix Police since she took office in April, said Zuercher’s earlier role as the ultimate boss of more than 14,500 city employees included presiding over the Phoenix Police Department during incidents that ultimately prompted a harsh report by the U.S. Justice Department under President Biden.
That report, which came out two years after Zuercher had retired, slammed the department for civil rights abuses and alleged unwarranted fatal shootings.
“There were multiple scandals involving law enforcement…including violations of First Amendment rights at the Trump rally in 2016 civil rights violations during the 2020 uprisings, the fake gang charges against residents that were exercising their First Amendment rights,” Hernandez told a stoic Zuercher standing at a podium before the council.
“My brother Alex was killed by a city of Phoenix police officer under your tenure and under your watch,” she said, alluding to the 2019 shooting of her 19-year-old brother, who had pulled a toy gun on an officer.
“My concern is you left your role at a time when all of this was happening, and it sounds like we might be seeing the same return of some of those scandals unfolding,” she said.
Although the Trump Justice Department rescinded the report, Council has implemented dozens of new regulations to correct the practices that its predecessor had criticized.
And Zuercher didn’t take Hernandez’s allegations laying down.
“I would say the Phoenix Police Department was recognized in 2016 by the Department of Justice as being one of the best trained police departments in the United States,” he said, invoking the Obama Administration’s endorsement.
“And then, as you noted, for the last half of the 2010s. we experienced in the country, waves of violence and incidents in the Phoenix, in Phoenix and other place.
“We spent a lot of time in those in those years, working on reforms in training and tactics and policies with many of those things were changed along the way by 2020, and 2021,” Zuercher continued.
“And then you mentioned the gang charges and others – I was the one who initiated the investigation of those things,” he told Hernandez. “I hired the outside law firm to come in and give us an investigation an independent view.
“I took their recommendations and reports. I used those to administer discipline where I thought it was warranted, and we used it to begin many of the reforms that we are seeing today, and I would commend you on the reforms that you just heard last week and that Jeff and his team have been overseeing.
“So it was something we worked on every day,” he said. “It was very concerning to me. I felt like we were addressing it along the way. These are, these are changes that have to be made over time and slowly. I take them very seriously, and I would want to continue the direction that the council and Jeff and his team have set for the continued reform and accountability of our public safety.”