As city staff look at how to streamline evaluations for a performance review and possible pay hike for Port Townsend City Manager John Mauro in 2025, the response to an open records request about his past experience raises new questions about the resume he used to get the job in the first place.

Mauro, who was hired in 2019, is the highest paid administrator in Port Townsend’s history.

In 2022 his salary rose to $189,297 from a starting base salary of $156,000, and he also received a onetime $12,500 bonus, making him the highest paid city manager in the state for a city this size, according to news reports and data compiled by the Association of Washington Cities.

During a business meeting Oct. 24, city staff, with Council Member Libby Wennstrom’s input, agreed to produce a list of city manager salary “comparables” for council to review in December or January. That list and process, according to city staff, would help city council develop a “documented process” for the annual city manager performance evaluation.

Mauro’s salary and credentials, including his work experience for the city of Auckland, New Zealand, has been the subject of much reporting. Allegations that he padded his resume have dogged him in news reports since shortly after he was hired.

Interest kicked off anew in May with the complaint by a former mayor, who also alleged Mauro mistreated employees and citizens. City officials, including Mauro, concluded Mauro’s credentials had been inflated. They said, however, that happened at the hand of Roseville, Calif., executive search firm, Peckham & McKenney. 

In August, The Leader filed a records request with New Zealand seeking clarity on his role in the government. The response reflects even greater disparity between the resume Mauro delivered to The Leader on July 23 from earlier reports. It reported that he oversaw about half the staff he said and the budget was considerably less.

According to information from the Auckland Council, Mauro directly supervised six staff as chief sustainability officer. The department spend for the sustainability center for fiscal year 2014/2015, when he was there, was $882,156 in New Zealand dollars, or about $732,189 in U.S. dollars, based on the average conversion rate to U.S. dollars that year.

Mauro did not reply to requests for comment.

“It sounds like your dataset is incomplete, and potentially in more ways than one,” wrote Mayor David Faber. “Are the figures quoted just John’s direct departmental budget, or does it include the typical governmental and corporate allocation of things like IT, admin, HR, and the like, which can add up to a significant additional sum indirectly overseen by a departmental head?”

“If The Leader was “only focusing on the direct departmental budget, you are likely missing a notable portion of what I would surmise was allocated from the overall Auckland city budget for John’s team. I have no idea how that might play in here,” wrote Faber.

“Either way, it sounds like there’s some serious missing information that needs to be clarified.”

Shirley complaint

On May 6, former Port Townsend Mayor Brent Shirley filed a complaint with the city council requesting an investigation be conducted. Shirley, who served on city council from 1980 to 1982, and was Port Townsend’s mayor from 1983 to 1993, said he has stayed connected to many former colleagues over the years. Gradually, as more people complained to him about how they had been treated by Mauro, Shirley said he became concerned.

The former mayor said he collected statements from 12 former employees, citizens and elected officials, and implored city council to act. That led to a meeting on July 11 with City Attorney Alexandra Kenyon and the city’s human resources director, Cynthia Shaffer. Shirley said he arrived with a stack of material, but that the meeting went nowhere, when they required he identify the individuals first. 

In the process, questions were answered about whether Mauro’s qualifications had been overstated.

Faber, a city council member at the time of Mauro’s hire, came to the city manager’s defense. Faber explained that the recruiting firm was retained to find a new city manager, and that they gathered, condensed and amalgamated Mauro’s resume as those experiences and responsibilities reflected the professional experience he had for the job.

In that process, Mauro’s Auckland departmental budget, his responsibilities and the number of employees he managed became conflated.The case was made that Mauro was far away in New Zealand, and one of numerous applicants, and how the headhunting firm presented candidates was not in his purview.  

“In my application materials, I clearly stated my budget authority and employee count as Auckland Council’s Chief Sustainability Officer (in the Chief Sustainability Office),” Mauro wrote in an email to Leader staff on July 1. 

He wrote that the budget “was broken down to team/projects ($1.5m), a green bond that I signed alongside the CFO and CEO ($200m), and a rotating energy efficiency fund ($10m) that the CFO and I put together.”

“I’m told by those in attendance that the consultant put together a one-page summary of my resume for a community event in June 2019 that was part of the interview process – and that summary was not vetted by me,” Mauro wrote. 

He added, “I’m guessing that those budget numbers were added up (the $211m number you/they refer to) as a shortcut by the consultant. The same with staffing — I had anywhere between 10 to 20 staff, depending on whether one counted full-time employees of Auckland Council, or whether one counted the frequent research fellows, interagency ‘secondments,’ and other staff that worked with me and my team.” 

The Leader filed an open records request with the City of Port Townsend for a copy of Mauro’s resume that was submitted as part of the hiring process. When the city denied the request, The Leader, prepared a story about the denial and asked Mauro to voluntarily provide a copy of his resume. Mauro delivered a copy of his resume to The Leader office on July 23. The Leader then submitted a records request with the Auckland City Council requesting it provide information about Mauro’s responsibilities. The response contradicts the information detailed on the resume Mauro delivered to The Leader. 

The response from Auckland Council records office was signed by Angela Hare. In addition to stating the number of directly supervised staff at six, she reported the department spend for the Sustainability Management cost center for fiscal year 2014/2015, when he was there, was $882,156 in New Zealand dollars, or about $732,189 in U.S. dollars, based on the average conversion rate to U.S. dollars that year.

$211m/$1.5m/$890,000

In 2020, Megan Tyler, chief of strategy for in the Chief Planning Office of the Auckland Council reported that Mauro’s budget was about $1 million and that he had about 10 direct reports.

The summary of Mauro’s resume prepared by Peckham & McKenney said Mauro had been directly responsible for 20 employees and a budget of $211 million with a “total agency budget” of $2.7 billion, while employed by the city of Auckland, New Zealand.  

The resume Mauro delivered to The Leader on July 23 lists 12 direct reports and budget oversight of $1.5 million, a $200 million green bond and $10 million in a rotating fund.

Prior to his post as the chief sustainability officer, Mauro’s resume said he served as the principal transport planner and played a “major role shaping $20 billion transport budget by line item,” and managed a staff of eight.

During his candidacy in 2019, former Port Townsend Mayor Michelle Sandoval supported Mauro and said in an interview that none of the other candidates had city manager experience. The Leader contacted Sandoval in August for more information.   

“I suppose we reviewed bios but don’t remember specific numbers that you mention, but indeed I remember the interviews of the final three candidates,” Sandoval wrote in an email to the Leader. “We all knew John had no experience as a city manager, but none of the three finalists had.”

That wasn’t true, based on a review of the list of final candidates: Both Victoria Brazitis and Keith Campbell had city manager experience. Mauro and Richard Sepler, Port Townsend’s former community services director, had none.

Brazitis served as Bothell’s assistant city manager from December 2017 through May 2019. In addition, Brazitis worked at the assistant city manager level in both Lone Tree, Colo., and Lakewood, Wash. Campbell had more than a dozen years of local government experience and had served as the city manager for Stayton, Ore., since 2014.

“John was impressive with his energy and intelligence,” Sandoval said. “But my advocacy for John was also based on the results of the comprehensive process we undertook together with the community. John was the choice by the majority of all of the team members set up to interview the candidates. Those various teams included city staff, council, community leaders and other elected officials throughout the county. And then he was far and away the overwhelming choice of the public at the community meeting.”

Reporting at the time indicates many on the hiring committee shared Sandoval’s sentiment and were impressed with Mauro’s energy and how he engaged the public at the community interview event. Less clear is whether knowledge that his resume had been conflated would have led to a different result. Sandoval also did not respond to requests for further comment. Past city council members Pamela Adams and Deborah Stinson, who were also involved in the hiring process, did not respond to requests for comment. 

According to the International City County Management Association (ICMA) of which Mauro is a member, “A member’s resume for employment or application for ICMA’s Voluntary Credentialing Program shall completely and accurately reflect the member’s education, work experience, and personal history.”

City hiring documents require that Mauro adhere to the ICMA ethics code, in addition to abiding by state ethics laws and ethics rules in the Port Townsend Municipal Code. The Leader has filed additional open records requests with the city seeking access to those documents.

David Timmons served as city manager of Port Townsend for 20 years, as well as on the board of ICMA. “As it relates to ICMA compliance by a member to adhere to the code of ethics, here is what I understand,” said Timmons. “If anyone believes a member has violated the code they can file a complaint with ICMA. They conduct their own investigation and process which is outlined on their website.”

Timmons said the outcome can range “from dismissal of the complaint, to a private censure, public censure, to modification or termination of membership.”

He also said that by law, “only the council as a whole can address issues with the city manager. Any decision regarding the city manager cannot be delegated.”

Review in 2025 

Following the Oct. 24 discussion at city hall with Wennstrom, Jodi Adams, the city’s finance director, clarified Mauro is not currently up for a raise or undergoing a performance evaluation. “That will happen next year during his review process,” said Adams. “Council has been discussing the city manager salary information because they are in the process of developing a documented process for the annual city manager performance evaluation each year. This way the process will remain consistent even as city council changes elected council members.”

As part of the discussion, city staff agreed to research city manager salaries for cities with similar populations, revenues, staff sizes and property tax bases. They suggested looking at Sequim, Port Angeles, cities in southwestern Washington and other rural cities that are also the county seat.

The group agreed that it may be difficult to find a perfect comparison.

“It’s, do your best, with the available data,” Wennstrom said during the meeting. She also cautioned that the group do its due diligence. “If you’re having a fairly highly-compensated employee,” Wennstrom said. “It’s an area that tends to get a lot of media and public scrutiny.”

The Leader contacted all current city council members for comment on Mauro’s resume and credentials. Council Member Owen Rowe declined to comment. The remaining council members had not responded by press time.

Faber took issue with coverage in general.

“I wonder if and when your many articles on this seeming non-story are going to speak to the fact that John has won — individually and on behalf of the city — multiple awards for his work as city manager,” the mayor wrote in an email. “It seems odd to me to spend so much ink picking at something from years in the past that is likely explained by the complexities and vagaries of budgetary technicalities, and which seems to have no impact on the job that the City Manager is currently doing.”

Shirley, for his part, said he has not given up on his request for an investigation.

“I have referred this matter to my attorney Chuck Henry,” Shirley wrote in an email Oct. 29. “He is preparing a formal response to the city’s rejection of my complaint that he will be filing shortly “