Coachella City Council Holds Special Meeting Tonight to Restart City Manager Search

The Coachella City Council is holding another special meeting tonight after canceling last week's session due to an unspecified issue involving a council member.

On the agenda for tonight's closed-door meeting: a performance review of Interim City Manager Gabriel Gonzalez, and a discussion around appointing a new permanent city manager. The session is scheduled for 5 p.m. at Coachella City Hall.

The city has been searching for a permanent city manager for over a year, ever since the council placed previous City Manager Dr. Gabriel Martin on administrative leave and ultimately dismissed him. The reason for that decision has never been publicly disclosed.

Gonzalez stepped in as interim, but at the close of last month's regular council meeting, he took himself out of the running for the permanent role. "I'm going to withdraw from the city manager position. I'm not going to get involved in any political environment that's going on here," he said, adding, "You have a great organization. I feel bad for them, really, because of all the politics that's going on here."

Tonight's meeting is the city's next attempt to chart a path forward.