Cupertino shelled out greater than $20,000 on a beforehand undisclosed investigation into former Metropolis Supervisor Pamela Wu, who stepped down final month after being placed on paid administrative depart for unknown causes.
On Could 2, the council voted 3-2 to position Wu on depart. On the time, town put out a press release that the choice was “made to ensure the city can continue to operate smoothly and maintain organizational stability while allowing a fair internal review process to move forward in a constructive and focused manner.”
The previous metropolis supervisor and residents raised issues to the council when it scheduled a “public employee performance evaluation” for Wu on April 2, which was lower than six months from her final annual efficiency evaluation on the finish of November 2024.
On June 6, Wu determined to step down from her submit as a part of a settlement settlement with town — she’d obtain eight months of severance pay plus different advantages for a complete of $311,089. Each town and Wu agreed to not sue or disparage the opposite as a part of the settlement.
Weeks earlier than the November 2024 election, metropolis staff eliminated quite a lot of election garden indicators alongside Bollinger Street for now-Councilmember Ray Wang and Vice Mayor Kitty Moore. Some residents blamed the error on Wu. A supply acquainted with the matter confirmed the problem was amongst issues in regards to the former metropolis supervisor raised by the council majority.
Wu declined to touch upon the investigation or the prices.
Councilmember Sheila Mohan, who voted towards inserting Wu on depart again in Could, mentioned in an interview that the investigation was one thing the council majority pushed for as they “wanted to see a change at the top of city administration.”
“They wanted to make sure that the outcome they wanted had some validity,” she mentioned.
In line with Wu’s contract, town must pay her a full yr’s wage if the council terminated her with out trigger. If the council terminated Wu with trigger, nevertheless, her contract mentioned she wouldn’t be entitled to any severance. When Wu was employed in 2022, her base wage was set at $298,000 a yr, however her annual wage grew to $337,324 in 2024, in line with a database from the California State Controller’s Workplace.
“I am very satisfied with the work that Pamela was putting forward,” he mentioned. “In my estimation, looking back on how my colleagues viewed her and the relationship that they had with her, it always struck me as a means for harassing her out of a job.”
Cupertino has struggled to carry onto senior workers in recent times. Since 2018, town has gone by means of 4 metropolis managers and three interim metropolis managers.
In February 2023, town employed an employment lawyer to research claims made in a 2022 Santa Clara County Civil Grand Jury report that there was an adversarial relationship between the council and metropolis officers.
The investigation additionally discovered “abusive and controlling behavior” from former Mayor Darcy Paul and Wang, who on the time was a planning commissioner who had been faraway from his function following accusations of harassment.
Moore and Wang didn’t reply to a request for touch upon the investigation into Wu.
As town searches for its subsequent metropolis supervisor, Deputy Metropolis Supervisor Tina Kapoor will briefly step into the function. Mohan and Fruen, nevertheless, fear how the lack of one more metropolis supervisor will affect town in the long run.
“I think it’s very damaging to our reputation,” Fruen mentioned. “I think it makes it very hard for us to retain quality staff. I think it also creates a situation where if you are currently on staff, you could legitimately wonder ‘Well, who’s going to be here in 6 months? Who’s going to be my boss in the future?”
Initially Printed: July 24, 2025 at 4:19 PM PDT
