The search for Port Townsend City Manager John Mauro’s resume ended July 23, when Mauro himself hand delivered the document to Leader offices.

Mauro’s delivery came after three denied public records requests, with city officials citing state privacy statutes to protect its release. After the city’s most recent denial on July 15, Leader staff asked Mauro directly for the resume and he complied.

The elusive resume had become key to former mayor Brent Shirley’s inquiry into Mauro’s background and credentials and Shirley’s allegation and complaint that Mauro’s conduct had driven away long-term staff and alienated some citizens and elected officials. Shirley brought his concerns to city council in a letter dated May 6. As part of his complaint, Shirley alleges that Mauro isn’t qualified for the position he holds and the resume, once revealed, would underscore that allegation. In his May 6 letter, Shirley asked that city council investigate and interview the 12 people he says can corroborate his claims, however, and to his knowledge no such investigation has yet begun.

Since Shirley began his inquiry, Mauro has asserted that he “stands by his record,” but until July 23, it was not entirely clear what his record was. In fact, his record became muddied after it was confirmed that Peckham & McKenney – the firm hired by the city to locate city manager candidates in 2019 – conflated Mauro’s credentials and presented him as a candidate in command of a 20-person staff and a budget of $211 million at the city of Auckland, New Zealand where Mauro worked at the time of interviewing with the city of Port Townsend. Both Mauro and Mayor David Faber confirmed that the conflation had occurred, with Faber describing the summary document as “slightly misleading.”

A public records request yielded the firm’s summary, and a comparison of the document against Mauro’s own resume make the conflation and confusion clear. Indeed, when comparing the documents, it becomes obvious which budget and staffing numbers Peckham & McKenney picked and melded from Mauro’s own resume to create its inflated summary that was then presented to the Port Townsend City Council and the public.

While the Peckham & McKenney summary exaggerates budgets and responsibilities, Mauro’s positions, as listed on his own resume, can largely be confirmed through various web archives, although personnel and budget responsibilities cannot. For example, digital archives can be found for his tenure as the SmartGrowth director for the Pilchuck Audobon Society, as a policy analyst for the Seattle Mayor’s Office, the policy director for the Cascade Bicycle Club and other placements. These archives consist of newspaper articles, blog posts and a variety of city and county government documents, such as records of presenters and commenters and archives in the city of Seattle clerk’s office.

Mauro’s most recent position at the city of Auckland, prior to his arrival in Port Townsend, has come under heavy scrutiny, although what he reports on his own resume as his primary budget and personnel responsibilities largely align with what has been reported by one of his former colleagues – Megan Tyler, chief of strategy for the chief planning office with the city of Auckland.

The error in the presentation of his Auckland experience then, came in the summary Peckham & McKenney prepared. When asked about the “slightly misleading” summary, Tony Dahlerbruch, executive recruiter for Peckham & McKenney, sidestepped the question.

“I refer you back to the city,” Dahlerbruch said. “All the information from the recruitment process was provided to city at the time of the search.”

What is also true is that Mauro possessed no city manager experience prior to being hired at the city of Port Townsend. Former Mayor Michelle Sandoval confirmed this, adding that none of the four finalists she and city council interviewed in 2019 had prior city manager experience.

To date, City Attorney Alexandra Kenyon has not responded to numerous requests for clarification or comment, thus deepening the speculation about the veracity of Mauro’s qualifications.

Proponents of the state’s ‘Sunshine Laws’ do not agree that withholding a resume is always necessary or the right thing to do.

“This exemption has come up multiple times,” said Toby Nixon, president emeritus of the Washington Coalition for Open Government and chair of the Washington State Public Records Exemption Accountability Committee. “People would apply for jobs, and if their current employer knew they were looking, it could put their employment at risk.”

This was not the case for Mauro. He has served as Port Townsend’s city manager since November 2019.

“You can imagine that there are certain things that could be a privacy issue,” Nixon said. However, being able to verify the truth of what people submit in order to get hired is important, Nixon added, lamenting, however, that the legislature has not agreed.

“It’s important for people to be able to look back and see if the candidate may have falsified anything,” Nixon said. “But despite the public’s interest, the legislature has not changed the law. There’s no time limit (on the exemption). The coalition has held for many years that this is not good practice.”

Nixon explained that while the law allows for a government agency to withhold a resume, it is not mandatory. Moreover, withholding a resume, Nixon said, may cast even more doubt on the individual in question.

“If they (city council) aren’t willing to release it (the resume), what do they or the city manager have to hide,” Nixon said. “The law does not prohibit it (the resume) from being released. The law allows for it to be released. It is a discretionary exemption. It is up to the council to decide.

“One of the main reasons the public records act exists is so that the public can hold elected officials accountable for the decisions they make. How can they hold the (city) council accountable if they can’t view the records?”

With Mauro’s resume now public, it remains up to city council to determine whether they’ll investigate Shirley’s remaining allegations.