Who Will Lead Irvine? High-Stakes Closed Session to Decide Interim City Manager
Faced with a looming financial crisis and the fast-approaching departure of its top executive, the Irvine City Council will head into a closed session tomorrow, Tuesday, July 14, 2026, to decide who will guide the city as interim City Manager for the next year. See agenda item 1.2.
The high-stakes personnel decision comes at a critical juncture for Orange County’s second-largest city. Outgoing City Manager Sean Crumby announced his resignation in May, stating August 14, 2026 would be his final day in office.
Under the provisions of California’s Ralph M. Brown Act (Gov. Code § 54957), public agencies are permitted to meet in closed session to discuss public employee appointment, employment, evaluation, or dismissal. However, Irvine Watchdog and residents are closely monitoring the decision.
While the council’s preliminary deliberations tomorrow will take place out of public view, any formal action—such as approving an interim employment agreement, setting compensation, or finalizing a candidate’s start date—must be reported in open session or voted on during a subsequent public City Council meeting.
The Council faces two primary pathways: selecting an internal candidate from the current executive team to ensure continuity—similar to how Crumby initially stepped into the role—or bringing in an experienced outside transition manager specializing in municipal restructuring.
The more critical decision of choosing a permanent City Manager will be decided approximately a year from now by next year’s City Council. Critics have previously taken issue with the Council’s handling of the City Manager position. When Crumby was elevated from interim to permanent City Manager in October 2025, some civic groups criticized the Council for bypassing a transparent, national search process.
The Irvine City Council meeting begins Tuesday, July 14, at 4:00 p.m. at the City Hall Council Chamber, located at 1 Civic Center Plaza. Residents can attend in person or view the livestream via the city’s official website or YouTube channel.
3 Comments
Branda Lin
July 14, 2026 at 7:34 amMy personal pick would be for Sean Joyce, our former City Manager who served our city for 12 years. He is now retired, which makes him a great choice for Interim City Manager because he can be frank and honest given he isn’t vying for the permanent City Manager position.
Joyce also served as Interim CM in Huntington Beach after Oliver Chi left HB to come to Irvine, so he knows how to clean up Chi’s financial messes and where to look (Oliver brought Dahle Bulosan, Huntington Beach’s CFO, over to Irvine to be our Director of Admin Services, overseeing critical municipal operations, including finance, accounting, treasury, budget, payroll, purchasing, and IT services) — so Chi likely used the same or similar playbook and Joyce will be familiar with where to look.
As stated above, we need somebody who is independent of Oliver Chi. There is word Chi is still making calls to Irvine staff to push certain specific deals through whether or not they are what’s best for our city.
We also need a City Manager independent of unions. It’s one thing for City Councilmembers to have endorsements but a City Manager would best serve a city by being independent — and would provide a balance/accountability to the City Council — by remaining independent. Otherwise, there’s a built in quid pro quo.
I hope we have great options and hope Sean Joyce is in the running. He would be most capable of getting us back on track. It’s been one bad City Manager after another once Sean left (John Russo, then Oliver Chi).
Alan
July 14, 2026 at 2:03 pmMy question is who ever the council decides on for the temp and the permanent, will everyone be happy. Answer is absolutely not.
Crit
August 14, 2026 at 1:16 pmGreat article, Branda. Thank you for the effort.
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The City Manager answers to seven politicians in a fast-growing city. That is an extraordinarily difficult job. I am not making excuses for anyone, but I am disappointed by how readily people toss around accusations, labels, and judgments without making the effort to construct an actual argument rooted in verifiable facts. If we expect thoughtful, accountable government, we should bring some of that same discipline to our own participation in it.
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One approach is easy: complain, assume bad motives, and repeat. The other is considerably harder, but it moves the ball forward and demonstrates how things actually get done. If we want Irvine to be something better, then help make it so. Otherwise it becomes an endless loop: complain >>> don’t get what you want >>> complain more, now convinced that nobody listens to you.
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If we as Irvine residents want better government, some of that responsibility begins with us — putting in the effort and developing the skills necessary to build consensus and produce results. And that work is happening if you look for it. Our Irvine Disaster Emergency Communications volunteer group is one example: residents giving their time and developing real capabilities to make Irvine a better and safer community. That is civic engagement that builds something.