Martinez
Mission City Attorney Gustavo “Gus” Martinez resigned Friday afternoon.
The city council agreed to accept Martinez’s resignation during a special meeting after discussing his evaluation “and other matters incident thereto” in closed session, away from the public’s ears.
The city council voted four to one to accept Martinez’s resignation and to pay him an undisclosed amount in severance.
“The City of Mission has accepted a letter of resignation on behalf of Former City Attorney, Gustavo Martinez under an amicable agreement,” the city said in a statement. “We thank Mr. Gustavo Martinez for his service to the City of Mission.”
The only one who voted against the motion was Councilman Abiel Flores who said that while he was in favor of accepting the resignation, he opposed the severance payment.
“My reservation is that it’s my belief that any government employee that’s without a contract should not be paid extra compensation upon their exit from any municipality or government position,” Flores said after the meeting.
Councilwoman Jessica Ortega also expressed opposition to the severance payment but ultimately voted in favor of the motion.
Martinez took over as city attorney in May 2019, vacating his position on the city council in doing so.
He was elected city councilman for place 4 in 2018 in a special election that was called to fill the role vacated by then-Councilman Armando O’Caña. O’Caña went on to win the mayoral election that year.
During Friday’s meeting, the council also authorized the city manager to seek qualifications for a new city attorney. Meanwhile, the city will continue receiving legal counsel from Deputy City Attorney Esther Peña, according to Flores.
“We don’t anticipate this being any disruption with regard to our legal representation as we do have other law firms that we do seek outside advice for, outside counsel for, for matters that involve litigation and things like that.,” Flores said. “So there’s going to be no disruption with regard to our legal representation.”
In its statement, the city assured the council would soon appoint an interim city attorney.
“The City Manager will work promptly to appoint an interim City Attorney who can attend to the important legal matters before our city, and we can assure the public that our legal operations will continue moving forward,” the statement read.
Martinez could not be reached for comment.
