Behind very snugly closed doors in what amounts to the bowels of City Hall, City Manager Jerry Fulwood will sit down early Monday evening with his friends and challengers on the City Council, ostensibly for that periodic exercise known prosaically as a “performance evaluation.”
In fact, this promises to be the most dramatic private session in Mr. Fulwood’s 5 1/2-year tenure because it was the City Manager himself who scheduled the session.
They are not going to be shmoozing about Mr. Fulwood’s horse ranch or the upcoming Jewish High Holidays.
His current three-year contract expires on June 23. It has been broadly speculated he will announce his retirement.
Mr. Fulwood turned 62 years old this week, an optimal retirement age for a career government employee.
His $230,000 a year agreement stipulates that either party must give six months notice.
His Profile
Mr. Fulwood, an equal parts strong and stoic figure, has been at the center of numerous storms, many not of his own making.
Unflaggingly, at least externally, he has weathered highly personal, intensely hostile confrontations with a consistent sheen of professionalism.
He has been a magnet for stunningly harsh public criticism from certain members of several different City Councils. As far as any observer can tell, the native New Yorker has remained unshaken, unchanged, exactly the qualities expected of a leader.
There must have been turmoil and turbulence inside, but the City Manager’s exterior never betrayed anything other than a feeling of placidity.
He Is Unflappable
In confrontations with former Council members such as Albert Vera and Carol Gross, and more recently with Vice Mayor Gary Silbiger, Mr. Fulwood never has elevated his voice, never has adjusted his seated position. If this were radio, listeners would say his replies were marked with the serenity and discipline of a mortician at a funeral.
The City Manager prizes his privacy. Because he generally keeps his own counsel, foes, friends and neutral parties have not always been sure what to make of him.
He is as genial as anyone in City Hall, but his slip never is showing.
Mr. Fulwood has been criticized for being an arm’s length manager, and his defenders have answered that everyone leads with a different style.
One of his memorable achievements has been leading the largest shakeup in Culver City government in decades, the somewhat complicated transition from a chief administrative officer form of governance to the more common city manager model.
While there was no shortage of grumbling and criticism, the months-long changeover was accomplished the way change always is with Mr. Fulwood — quietly, off-stage, with minimal fluff, notice and comment.