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Following the sudden announcement that City Manager David Mirrione is stepping down Sept. 21 as the city’s top administrator, the Hollister City Council has set a special meeting to discuss the matter.
According to the Aug. 26 special meeting agenda, city officials will discuss the city manager role in a closed session set for 6:30 p.m.
Mirrione accepted a position with another public agency, according to a city news release, which did not provide additional details.
“It has been a true honor to serve the community in which I was raised for the past three years,” Mirrione said in the release. “I am deeply proud of the accomplishments achieved in partnership with the City Council and our dedicated staff. It has been especially rewarding to work alongside such a hardworking and committed team who serve our community with excellence every day.”
Councilmember Rudy Picha said Mirrione is “very knowledgeable, thought-provoking, hardworking.”
“There’s going to be some shoes to fill for sure,” he said.
Neither Mirrione nor the four other council members responded to BenitoLink’s request for comment.
Picha said he doesn’t know exactly what will be discussed at the closed session meeting but said it’s likely to be regarding the next steps the city needs to take and identifying potential candidates to take on the role.
Before Mirrione took over the city manager position, he served as Hollister’s assistant city manager starting in August 2022. He was appointed interim city manager in March 2023 after the city fired Brett Miller, who had served in the role since September 2020.
Mirrione previously served as an assistant county executive officer for Merced.
Hollister has a history of hiring from within.
Miller had spent almost 12 years in other roles, including accounting manager and director of management. He served as the interim city manager for almost a year after city manager Bill Avera retired in 2019.
Avera became the city manager in 2014, after holding the position as an interim for six months. He joined the city in 1994 and held various roles including director of the Development Services Department.
Avera’s predecessors, Clint Quilter and George Lewis, were also promoted from within.
The last time the city hired from outside the organization did not go well.
In November 2019, the council approved the hiring of Paul Eckert to replace Avera. However, Eckert resigned almost immediately after a number of complaints came forward about his record of alleged sexual harassment at his previous job in Sioux City, Iowa. Eckert, who was with the city for 11 days, took a severance payout of up to $25,000.
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