“By unanimous vote of the [San Bernardino] city council, the City has terminated Charles Montoya’s employment contract pursuant to Section 11.7 which defines termination without cause.
“By unanimous vote of the [San Bernardino] city council, the City has terminated Charles Montoya’s employment contract pursuant to Section 11.7 which defines termination without cause. (File photo)

Overview: The San Bernardino City Council has voted to terminate Charles Montoya’s employment contract, exercising the severance provision in his employment agreement. Montoya will receive a severance payment of $325,000, equivalent to 12 months’ base salary. The decision was made after Montoya fired the city’s former director of finance and management, Barbara Whitehorn, who raised concerns about the low-balling of costs related to the planned renovation of the city hall. Rochelle Clayton has been appointed as temporary acting city manager until further action is taken.

Ellen Perrault

The decision was made during a special closed session meeting held on Wednesday, May 22nd, where the San Bernardino Mayor and City Council voted to exercise the severance provision in City Manager Charles Montoya’s employment agreement. 

The City Attorney gave the closed session report at the end of the meeting saying, “By unanimous vote of the city council, the city has terminated Charles Montoya’s employment contract pursuant to Section 11.7 which defines termination without cause. Clayton will serve as temporary, acting city manager until the council takes further action. This action was taken by a 5-3 vote with Council Member Sanchez, Ibarra, and Alexander voting no.”

Montoya served the city for seven months.

With less than a year on the job Montoya will walk away with a lucrative goodbye incentive of  $325,000—the equivalent of 12 months’ base salary as severance. 

After serving the city of San Bernardino for only seven months, City Manager Charles Montoya will walk away with a lucrative goodbye incentive of  $325,000. (File photo)

Although it took the city of San Bernardino about nine months to hire Montoya last October, it took only a week for him to be unceremoniously dismissed after he fired the city’s former director of finance and management, Barbara Whitehorn. Whitehorn claims she was fired after she allegedly raised concerns about a plan to renovate city hall. 

Whitehorn, spoke publicly about her termination during the public comments period at the council meeting on Wednesday, May 15. 

Whitehorn claimed she was fired after raising concerns about costs related to the planned renovation of the facility.  According to Whitehorn renovations of the city hall building for earthquake safety will cost closer to $120 million versus the $80 initially projected. 

Clayton’s qualifications to serve as temporary replacement

Rochelle Clayton was hired in April, 2024 as deputy city manager, overseeing the Public Works; Community Development and Housing; and the Parks, Recreation and Community Services Departments.

Clayton is very familiar with San Bernardino as she grew up and raised her family in the city. She also spent seventeen years with the County of San Bernardino in various finance administration roles, including as deputy chief.

For the past five years, Clayton served as assistant city manager of Menifee, overseeing the Police, Fire, Community Services, Information Technology, Finance, Human Resources, and City Clerk departments.

In other past roles, she served as Deputy City Manager and Administrative Services Director for the City of Banning, the Chief Financial Officer for the West Valley Water District in Rialto, and the Finance Director for the City of La Habra Heights. 

Ellen Perrault is retired and works occasionally as a freelance writer who contributes to publications in Riverside and San Bernardino Counties. Her primary focus is preparing/reformatting press releases and other public announcements–both municipal and nonprofit–for publication.