Port of San Diego chose a new CEO, didn’t tell anyone for a week — and says that’s OK

After nearly 18 months without a permanent chief executive, the commissioners at the Port District of San Diego picked a new leader during a closed session on Nov. 13.

But the port didn’t announce that selection for eight days, when a Nov. 21 news release said current Carlsbad City Manager Scott Chadwick would be the leader of the influential agency that controls what happens on the tidelands of San Diego Bay.

And for more than a week after the announcement, the port refused to reveal what the vote to hire Chadwick was, and how each commissioner voted — which one leading expert on public access law in California said violated the state open meetings law. 

The port appears to be relying on the distinction that no vote to “hire” Chadwick was taken at the Nov. 13 meeting. Instead, the commissioners apparently authorized the staff to negotiate a contract with him.

After several inquiries following the closed session meeting, a spokesperson for the port said the “final selection” of the CEO would not happen until the board’s next meeting on Dec. 10.

She said inewsource had to file a public records request for information on the closed session vote. That request is pending. 

But then on Monday, the port issued a statement from board Chairman Frank Urtasun, who said the port was not obligated to publicly report the vote after the Nov. 13 selection — but said “in the interest of transparency” he could now say that the vote was unanimous.

His statement echoed the position the port had taken when initially asked: that Chadwick is not formally “hired” until Chadwick accepts a contract and the board votes on it. 

Urtasun said that the port did not actually vote to hire Chadwick at the meeting — only directed the staff to begin negotiations.

But that contradicts a section covering closed sessions in the state open meetings law, which plainly states certain closed session votes have to be revealed, and done so on the day the meeting is held. 

Another portion of the same section of the law specifically addresses hiring decisions. 

“Action taken to appoint, employ, dismiss, accept the resignation of, or otherwise affect the employment status of a public employee in closed session pursuant to Section 54957 shall be reported at the public meeting during which the closed session is held. Any report required by this paragraph shall identify the title of the position.” 

David Loy, the legal director for the First Amendment Coalition, said that the law requires the port, and any public body, to make public the hiring decision reached in closed session. 

“Once they take the vote in closed session that we have decided to hire Jane or John Doe, they have to report it,” he said. 

But the port apparently does not see it that way. “In sum, there was no action reported after closed session because it was unknown at that time whether the terms of employment could be negotiated and presented to the Board for consideration,” Urtasun’s statement said. 

Commissioners have been meeting for months behind closed doors in the search for a new leader. Those sessions and the subject matter — “Public Employment Recruitment/Appointment of Executive Director/President/Chief Executive Officer” — have been announced on the agendas for the meetings as required under the law.

The closed session on Nov. 13 included seven other items, ranging from personnel evaluations to real estate negotiations to active and potential lawsuits. Commissioners met in the morning and, after about 90 minutes of its regular, open meeting in the afternoon, went behind closed doors to continue the discussions again.

Thomas Russell, the agency’s top lawyer, said that there was “no reportable action” taken when commissioners emerged from closed session. He noted that Commissioner Dan Malcolm had abstained from the discussion regarding the CEO.

In September Malcolm abruptly announced he was abstaining from any further discussion about the CEO position. He has not explained why. 

The port’s formal announcement — a news release headlined “Port of San Diego Selects Scott Chadwick as its next President and Chief Executive Officer” — said his contract was “anticipated to be ratified” at the Dec. 10 meeting.

It also included comments from Urtasun saying, “The board and I are pleased to announce the selection” of Chadwick, and from Chadwick himself who said he was “ready to roll up my sleeves and get to work.”

In a story on Chadwick’s appointment, The San Diego Union-Tribune reported that the board had voted in closed session at the Nov. 13 meeting. The port declined to tell the newspaper at the time whether the vote was unanimous.

Loy said that making someone file a public records request to learn more about the port’s selection of Chadwick was wrong. “I just think the public has the right to know who voted what way in closed session,” he said. 

Chadwick is taking over the top spot at the agency from Joe Stuyvesant, who departed under unexplained and costly circumstances earlier this year.

Stuyvesant had been suddenly placed on administrative leave in July 2023 for what was curtly described as an internal investigation. 

Port officials have never disclosed what the investigation concerned, though records obtained by inewsource showed it cost as much as $330,000 in payments to a local law firm.

In January the port announced it had reached a separation agreement with Stuyvesant that paid him $371,000 and shelled out another $40,000 in legal fees to his lawyer.