Riverside city manager Charles “Mike” Futrell will stay on as Riverside’s City Manager instead of leaving for Pasadena. Susan Freeman, his wife, announced the decision in a joint statement published on Facebook last Saturday afternoon.

Futrell did not respond to a request for a call.

Futrell had announced he would be taking the job as Pasadena’s city manager on April 15. He was due to start work there on May 13.

The statement said he wanted to see through the upcoming Measure Z vote, housing initiatives, and economic development projects.

“I am staying to see these efforts through. What makes this decision meaningful is our city employees, community partners, and residents who are doing extraordinary work every day. Riverside is our home. Let us all work together to build upon this success,” the statement says.

Five days after the move was announced, the Pasadena City Council held a closed session hearing, then scheduled another for April 25. Both meeting agendas said the sessions were held under a section of law the appointment, discipline, or dismissal of a public employee, or to hear complaints brought against the employee. The April 25 meeting was canceled at 11:15 a.m., 30 minutes before Freeman’s post.

At an April 26 meeting of a community group called Neighbors Better Together, Futrell said that the reason the Pasadena job fell through was partly because of a Dec. 11 letter from the city council to Freeman. 

“Then we get down to, I’m closing for the post, someone emails the mayor of Pasadena the letter, and the rest is history,” Futrell told the group. An audio of his statements was provided to CalMatters.

Jason Hunter, chairman of Neighbors Better Together, posted a copy of the letter on Facebook on April 3. 

The letter claimed that Freeman insinuated she was part of Riverside’s decision-making team, that she had solicited City employees to participate in services, and that her promotion of her business created pressure for City staff.

“I will tell you the letter is a lie. I will tell you they don’t have the facts to back it up. I’ll tell you Susan was never asked to share her side of the story. I was never asked to share my side of the story,” Futrell said at the meeting.

Freeman denied the letter’s claims in a Dec. 15 email obtained by the Riverside Record through public records request and shared with CalMatters.

“I have not harassed City employees, contacted staff regarding confidential personnel or disciplinary matters, represented myself as part of the City’s decision-making team, or solicited City employees for paid services or donations,” Freeman wrote.

Read more at the Raincross Gazette and Riverside Record.

With five days until ballots are sent out, here’s a roundup of educational guides to help you learn about each candidate.

For information on the insurance commissioner candidates, see CalMatters’: Who wants to be California’s insurance commissioner? Your guide to the candidates. This article is also available in Spanish. Read it here.

For biographies of each state superintendent candidate, visit EdSource: Josh Newman, Sonja Shaw, Richard Barrera, Al Muratsuchi, Nichelle Henderson and Anthony Rendon. You can also view their two candidate forums here.

For coverage of Riverside County’s judicial election, read interview transcripts of each of the three candidates at Inland Empire Law Weekly: Michelle Paradise, Jennifer Loflin, and Andrea Garcia.

For coverage of Riverside city council election, read from the Raincross Gazette’s candidate forum: Raincross Gazette Hosts First-Ever Candidate Forum for Ward Seat. Two more forums will be held April 29 and April 30.

For more updates, subscribe to CalMatters’ Voter’s Guide newsletter.

On April 27, the state senate immediately passed Sen. Sabrina Cervantes’ (D-Riverside) new bill aimed at preventing law enforcement inspection of election records.

Senate Bill 73 would make it a crime to take ballots out of the custody of an elections official. It would also prohibit the military from being deployed to polling places.  

“Just earlier this month, the New York Times released an interview they did with the President in which he says that he regrets not ordering the National Guard to seize voting machines in swing states in the days after the 2020 election,” Cervantes said on the Senate Floor.

The bill passed under party lines. State Sen. Tony Strickland (R-Hungtington Beach), said the elections were not secure.

“You know, we had a situation in Orange County where a dog voted in the last two elections,” Strickland said.

Sen. Eloise Gómez Reyes’s (D-Colton) attempt to bar civil immigration arrests for people attending court passed the Senate Judiciary Committee on April 21. The bill passed 11-2, along party lines. It is sent to the Appropriations Committee.

Senate Bill 873 would give county judges the authority to order a person’s protection to and from the courthouse. If they were arrested under a civil arrest, the arrested person could sue. The attorney general would also have standing to sue. The law does not allow for protection from criminal arrests.

Cervantes’ bid to diminish the power of automated license plate readers passed the Senate Standing Committee on Privacy, Digital Technologies, and Consumer Protection on April 20. The bill passed 7-2, along party lines, with Sen. Kelly Seyarto (R-Murrieta) in opposition and Gómez Reyes in favor.

Senate Bill 1013, if passed, would prohibit any state government from selling, sharing, or transferring automated license plate recognition information, except to another public agency. CalMatters have reported on the state’s sharing of information: He saw an abandoned trailer. Then, he uncovered a surveillance network on California’s border.

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