On Wednesday, the Phoenix City Council voted to formally approve the hire of Ed Zuercher, who previously served as city manager from 2013 to 2021. Zuercher has been working as the executive director of the Maricopa Association of Governments for the past two and a half years. He’ll take over for current city manager Jeff Barton, who is retiring later this fall.
Zuercher’s position is the most powerful in city government, responsible for running the city's day-to-day operations, overseeing all city departments and their 14,500 employees and managing the city’s budget and finances. Such a big job would seemingly merit a big job search, as the city put on for its new police chief earlier this year. Instead, Zeurcher — who will make $415,000 a year — was rehired with a speed and secrecy that alarmed several councilmembers.
No formal interviews were conducted, city attorney Julie Kriegh told the council. No other candidates were vetted by the city council, including Assistant City Manager Lori Bays, whom several community members and council members wanted to be considered. In lieu of a search, Zuercher said, Mayor Kate Gallego and Councilmember Debra Stark “casually” approached him around the time of Barton’s mid-August retirement announcement to gauge his interest in returning to the job.
While the hiring process took more than a month, several councilmembers said they didn’t know about Zuercher’s selection until this week. The public wasn’t aware of Zuercher’s expected return until ABC 15 reported it Monday, two days before the council made Zuercher’s hire official.
Anna Hernandez, the council’s newest member and a progressive firebrand, blasted the process to bring back Zuercher as “rushed,” “secretive” and “shameful,” saying it lacked transparency and “felt forced” and “a little Trump-like.” In a press release, councilmember Kesha Hodge Washington said the hiring process “did not align with my expectations.” During the meeting, Councilmember Laura Pastor said it was a tough vote for her, but her decision was about “the process. It’s not about the person.” Hernandez, Washington, Pastor and councilmember Betty Guardado voted against approving Zuercher’s contract.
Councilmember Kevin Robinson also said he “was not a big fan of how we got to this point,” adding that no less than 30 people in city employee groups called, emailed or texted him with concerns about Zuercher's rehiring. He asked Zuercher to make a “promise and a commitment” to reach out to these groups and address their concerns. However, while Robinson wasn’t “completely and totally comfortable with it,” he voted in favor of Zuercher’s contract, adding, “I get it” that it is “critically important that we have someone who can do the job.”
Earlier in the meeting, Hernandez introduced a motion to move the vote to the council’s next meeting on Oct. 15, which would give community groups an opportunity to meet Zuercher and talk with him about their concerns. Gallego quickly voted against the motion, arguing that she’d like to “move forward” with the hiring. The motion failed 4-5.
Gallego said Zuercher “is up to the task” and “the right person to lead us into the future.” Conservative member Jim Waring called Zuercher a “pro-light rail kook” but said there was “zero doubt in my mind that he can do this job.” In a press release, Vice Mayor Ann O’Brien wrote that she is “confident that Ed Zuercher's return will provide the leadership our city needs.”
Left during a scandal
Some community groups aren’t so sure, pointing to the circumstances that surrounded Zuercher’s original exit.When Zuercher retired in 2021, Phoenix faced a massive scandal. The Phoenix Police Department had been caught coordinating with county prosecutors to falsely charge Black Lives Matter protesters as gang members in a naked attempt to crack down on political dissent. The incident sparked a multiyear investigation of the department by the Department of Justice, which culminated last year in a scathing 126-page report that found Phoenix police systemically practiced unconstitutional policing and violated the rights of citizens.
Zuercher said he’d decided to retire before the DOJ announced its probe. But some residents feel the stench of that scandal still hangs over him.
Prior to the meeting, several advocacy organizations — Mass Liberation AZ, Semillas AZ and BLM Metro Phoenix, specifically — put out a call-to-action poster urging community members to speak out against Zuercher’s rehiring. “The city of Phoenix is FUCK-ED,” the poster read, making a play on Zuercher’s first name.
At the meeting, several community members expressed their concern about Zuercher’s previous tenure.
Local organizor Luke Black, who previous ran Hernandez’s city council campaign, told the council that Zuercher oversaw “the most violent years in PPD history,” adding that the action of returning him to this council sends a clear message to the city that "we are returning to prioritizing white supremacy.” One of the individuals who faced bogus gang charges, who went by Jackie and spoke virtually during the meeting’s public comment section, told the council that “y’all should be ashamed of yourselves.”
There’s also concern about whether the city is legally allowed to rehire Zuercher in his old role. A clause in Phoenix city code states that a retired employee “cannot be rehired for the sole purpose of performing the same job duties as performed before retirement.” The city of Phoenix’s legal team said they ran the issue by outside counsel, who found no issues. Zuercher’s city pension, which he’s been drawing since his retirement, will be suspended when he formally starts on Nov. 17.
Zuercher’s rehiring wasn’t met with total opposition. Several local business and transportation leaders in the city — including Mike Huckins with the Greater Phoenix Chamber, Support Sky Harbor board member Chip Mullins, Friends of Transit Chair Maria Tyne and Dominic Papa, the senior director of the Phoenix Community Alliance — praised Zuercher as “fair and reasonable “ during a time when Phoenix needs “stability and trusted leadership.”
Speaking to the press after the vote, Zuercher said he’s excited to get back to work and “ready to step back into the challenge.”
“It’s a dream job,” he said. “I get to do the dream job twice.”
