There was no reportable action Friday after the Manteca City Council spent more than two hours behind closed doors discussing the performance of City Manager Toby Wells.

Wells was in the council chambers with the council when the public portion of the meeting started. He did not return to the chambers after the closed door session when the public meeting was reconvened. That’s when City Attorney David Nefouse announced there was no reportable action.

While no specifics were offered as to why the special meeting was called the agenda item listed for the executive session stated it had to do generally with the “evaluation/discipline/dismissal/release” of the city manager.

Wells has worked as Manteca’s city manager since Sept. 16, 2021. That was less than five months ago.

Wells’ last job as city manager was in Turlock where he was that city’s sixth either permanent or interim city manager since 2015 when he was hired in March of 2020. Eight months later after a new Turlock council was elected, friction developed between Wells and three council members prompting him to be placed on paid administrative leave.  In May of 2021 the Turlock City Council approved a settlement agreement with Wells.

Wells, who worked for the city of Modesto as an engineer before Manteca gave him a three-year contract starting at $230,000 annually, worked for six years as city manager of Ceres. Wells — when he was hired — was Manteca’s sixth city manager in six years.

If he is terminated for any reason other than cause from Manteca’s employment, Wells will receive any accrued administrative leave and vacation as well as a lump sum of six months of severance pay that based on the contract and his initial salary would be $115,000.

To contact Dennis Wyatt, email dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com