PHOENIX — Phoenix has selected Ed Zuercher as its next city manager following a controversial process conducted largely in secret, with the final vote passing by a razor-thin 5-4 margin that split the council.
The decision, made during a tense council meeting, will bring back Zuercher, who previously served as Phoenix city manager from 2013 to 2021, when he previously retired.
He will return to lead America’s fifth-largest city with a $415,000 salary and starts in mid-November.
The hiring process drew sharp criticism from half the council, who said they were kept in the dark about the selection.
The process included no job posting, no public search, no formal interviews, and no community input.
At the meeting, and ahead of the vote, Councilmember Anna Hernandez asked the city attorney a series of questions to highlight the level of transparency and accountability in the process.
The city attorney confirmed there was no community input prior to the meeting, no search for candidates, and no formal interviews were conducted.
Mayor Kate Gallego cast the deciding vote, joining four conservative-leaning council members in supporting Zuercher. The four progressive-leaning members voted against the appointment.
Zuercher spoke to ABC15 after the vote.
“It was not something I was considering. The Mayor and Councilwoman Stark approached me casually and asked if I was interested. I said yes,” Zuercher said.
The approach happened about a month ago, when outgoing City Manager Jeff Barton announced his retirement.
But some council members said they weren’t informed until a week ago.
When asked about the transparency of the process, Zuercher deferred to the council’s authority to conduct the search as they chose.
“The council gets to choose how it conducts this process, and I responded,” he said.
Multiple sources indicated that Gallego was the main driver behind the process. In an interview, the mayor defended the approach by citing her previous experience with city manager searches.
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“I have been blessed to be part of several city manager hiring processes. We did a national search when I was first elected to the city council. It took quite a long time. But at the result, we went with Ed Zuercher,” Gallego said.
Gallego justified avoiding a public search by citing concerns about putting candidates at risk in their current employment, referencing issues that arose during the police chief hiring process.
“We put people at risk in their current employment when we put people through a large public process,” Gallego said.
When ABC15 questioned whether avoiding a search made sense, Gallego responded that it wasn’t fair to conduct one when they already had “exceptional talent” available.
This digital article was produced with the assistance of AI and converted to this platform based on the broadcast story written and reported by ABC15 Chief Investigator Dave Biscobing. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
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