On Tuesday, the Antioch City Council will look to appoint Bessie Marie Scott as its next city manager with a 2-year contract.
The move comes after the city has played musical chairs with the city manager position since the retirement of Ron Bernal in 2021—Cornelius Johnson, Ana Cortez, Forrest Ebbs and Kwame Reed have all served as city manager.
The potential hiring also comes with less than two months before an election where the city council majority potentially could change – locking them into the services of Scott for 2-years.
Mayor
- Ron Bernal
- Rakesh Kumar Christian
- Lamar Hernandez-Thorpe (Incumbent)
City Council District 2 (vote for 1)
- Dominique King
- Louie Rocha
City Council District 3 (vote for 1)
- Donald Freitas
- Antwon Webster
- Addison Peterson
According to the contract, should Scott be terminated without good cause, the city would pay her salary for up to 12-months.
After an RFP was issued, the city hired MGT of America Consulting to conduct a national search for its next city manager – Scott was selected as the final candidate and has completed the background process.
According to the City Council Agenda, Scott has a Masters degree in Public Administration from the University of Washington and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Law and Society/Philosophy from the University of California, Santa Barbara. She has public sector experience in areas such as public safety, housing programs and municipal policy administration. Currently, she is working as a Deputy Inspector General for Public Safety with the City of Seattle. In her role, she ensures consistent policy interpretation across all functions of public safety, including audits, Investigations, Policy and Standards and Compliance,. Some of her career accomplishments include:
- Managed a Home from School Program, which was a pilot initiative that paired Housing Choice Voucher with a family experiencing homelessness and living in a shelter near a school in Seattle. The program was a success and housed over 250 families in the first year.
- Managed a grand-funded Education and Outreach Initiative Statewide Fair Housing testing program.
According to Scott’s LinkedIn, she has jumped around several positions (5) since 2018 with the City of Seattle, Public Defender Association, Seattle Community Police Commission and the Seattle Housing Authority.
If You Go
Antioch City Council Meeting
Tuesday, August 27, 2024
5:15 pm Closed Session
7:00 pm – Regular Meeting
200 H Street, Antioch CA
Agenda – click here
Below are some commentary on social media by Bessie Marie Scott over the last few years:
Related Stories:
- July 2, 2024 – Grand Jury Finds Evidence Antioch City Council Committed Brown Act Violations
- June 30, 2023 – Antioch City Manager Cornelius Johnson Resigns
- June 23, 2023 – Kwame Reed Named Acting Antioch City Manager
- June 14, 2023 – Acting Antioch City Manager Puts in Notice
- March 15, 2023 – Antioch City Manager Con Johnson Placed on Administrative Leave
- Sept. 27, 2022 – Antioch City Council Agrees to Appoint Con Johnson as City Manager
- Sept. 7, 2021: Antioch City Manager to Retire at End of 2021
- May 2017: City of Antioch Names Ron Bernal New City Manager
23 comments
Antioch City Council being the Antioch City Council. Another terrible hire. Maybe they should listen to the grand jury and find a QUALIFIED City Manager. This is a disaster waiting to happen. Fire this hiring firm and get a new one. A new city council that is not crazy should bring in a better pool of candidates.
Social media sure is a bitch. How in the world could the city hire a city manager that’s a racist. At least wait to hire after the election when the possibility of having new mayor and council. This seems like a rush to get another very political manager. Just saying
Shouldn’t they be hiring within the city of Antioch? This person knows nothing about the city of Antioch.
Good luck, Antioch.
Sounds like some of the txt msgs from the FBI APD investigation
Should fit right in.
So now a racist city manager. Sure, why not? Just keep piling it on!
Get this racist person out of here! Who in their right mind would want this person to come and cause more problems for Antioch?? We need unity not division , as this woman portrays herself! She has hate written all over her. Please Antioch residents, go to this meeting to stop the insanity of this.
Someone or people on the majority council might be trying to hide some corruption that has happened in city hall with this hire? This screams of a big FU by Lamar on his way to being voted out. Vote for professional and qualified people who have the best interest of the city.
Antioch will get what they deserve. What a sad state of affairs. Common sense is gone. It’s not fair to surrounding areas that have to carry Antioch for bad choices. The cycle will continue & spread. They celebrate a victim mentality and certain people pass it on like a inheritance
Why is the pay, step, and amount of relocation exspenses redacted in her contract? Don’t recall that ever happening for previous CMs or CA.
I can’t say I’m surprised that this council has chosen a “professional victimologist” as city manager. One wonders what other candidates, if any, were seriously considered.
Stand by, CC News. You will undoubtedly be labeled a “dog whistle racist” for having the temerity of reprinting this person’s past statements – in other words, for printing truth. Keep up the good work.
Sounds like she has run out of places in Seattle for employment. Wonder why? Not to worry. Thorpe will make sure she has a job. Who just leaves the position she held to come to Antioch? One can only wonder.
Can something be done to postpone the vote till after the election? Anything? Lawsuit, etc? There has to be a way to stop this, its clearly not in best interest of Antioch’s future. This lady knows NOTHING about city management. A PURE racist.
As a chicana, first generation born here I am over the racial lines our black community purposely makes towards the white community. This country was stolen from my people, natives. We were slaves as well. Yet we do not go around blaming white people for our current culture problems. Let’s be real. Our young men our dying due to ignorance and ghetto mentality. Lack of parenting and respect not because their great great great great great grandparents were slaves!!! There are no fathers in the black community and in some of the Latino communities. There is no strong male role models. Yet we can’t blame anyone but our own people. We allowed ourselves to be placed into these predicaments not “the white” man. I think this new person is under qualified, racist and going to cause further division and racial damage in our community. How can Mayor Hernandez Thorpe seriously do this? This is going to be another catastrophe for the city. He says he relates as a Mexican, calls himself Mexican even though I grew up with a black foster sister. That does not make me black right? Then why does it make him Mexican? I actually find it offensive!! That is your heritage and bloodline not who you were raised with. Antioch’s a joke. So much racial hatred in this area and it’s caused by Thorpe, And his little supporters. He is just attempting to use his “Mexican” privilege he thinks he has for political purposes. This Mexican doesn’t agree and he lost my vote and my family’s support based on this hiring the city manager and the fake Mexican strings he’s pulling.
After looking over social media posts appears perfect fit for the Antioch in your face us vs them mentality. Employers if they are through usually review social media posts of a potential employee.
Or did they?
Hiring someone who has never been either an Assistant City Manager or City Manager, is another big mistake!
I will be very disappointed if the vote to hire her is anything other than 3-2.
Oh boy. I couldn’t imagine a worse choice for Antioch City Manager. Everyone saw what happened when the Seattle Police Department was hamstringed against doing any police work to end the violent actions and vandalism in Seattle during and after the BLM riots. Is this what is to come for Antioch? With this person watching over the city and police department, plan on the same end results as Seattle. Anyone that cares and can, should be at the council meeting and make their concerns known regarding this hire. Otherwise, good luck.
Now there will be 4
Wow, City Council wants to vote themselves in another raise to $1,900 a month! Some nerve! See the vague agenda.
Seriously.? How many times will the council majority screw this up.? None of them are qualified to hire a janitor. No,disrespect to the janitor.
They are racist, only see Black.
From Seattle!? Get ready for the Antioch Autonomous Zone. AAZ.
LaThorpe torching Antioch on the way out the door.
Comments are closed.