How did the name of a top city manager candidate leak — and who’s responsible for costing the City of San Bernardino an $800,000 settlement? That question is at the heart of a confidential investigative report authored by JL Group and obtained through a California Public Records Act request.
The report outlines a troubling series of events surrounding Steve Carrigan, the former City Manager of Salinas, who became the top candidate for San Bernardino’s city manager role in mid-2023. Though Carrigan never formally accepted or began the position, he ultimately withdrew from the recruitment process citing internal leaks, racialized political pressure, and public opposition he described as “orchestrated.”
The administrative investigation — conducted by Jeff Brouwer and Jason Kravetz, special investigators with JL Group, and Jeff Love, Attorney at Law — identifies multiple points of breakdown: confidential material left unsecured by a councilmember, apparent backchannel communication between police departments, and internal edits to investigative documents just hours before they were presented to the City Council.
Carrigan, who was contacted by media and faced public scrutiny before the city had formally announced a decision, said the situation felt increasingly unstable. In the JL Group report, he cited these compounding pressures as the basis for his formal withdrawal on September 28, 2023.
Carrigan informed Frank Rojas, recruitment manager for Koff & Associates, of his decision. Rojas had previously recruited Carrigan for the Salinas city manager role and had ongoing professional ties with other key staff — including then-Deputy City Manager Suzie Soren. The closeness of those relationships raised quiet concern among some observers about the impartiality of the process.
Just four days later, on October 2, 2023, the Salinas City Council voted to terminate Carrigan’s employment — a consequence he believes was triggered by the leaks and perceived instability tied to the San Bernardino recruitment process.
‘We Cost You Your Job’: Shorett and Soren’s Calls to Carrigan and Council Vote Dynamics
Carrigan’s testimony provided further clarity. In his interview with JL Group investigators, he said that following his withdrawal from the San Bernardino position, both Mayor Pro Tem Fred Shorett and then-Deputy City Manager Suzie Soren called him directly.
According to Carrigan, Shorett said, “I’m so sorry. We cost you your job.” Carrigan recalled that Suzie Soren expressed similar remorse, telling him she was sorry and acknowledging that the situation had gone wrong. Carrigan interpreted both calls as sincere, yet he remained skeptical of their motivations.
Both Shorett and Soren urged Carrigan to reconsider his decision to withdraw, according to the interview. “Would you reconsider being the San Bernardino City Manager?” they asked.
Carrigan said he was stunned by the calls and hadn’t planned to pursue legal action until that point. “That’s where my head was going — do you want to be our city manager?” he recalled. “But I also thought… they were doing this just to cover themselves legally.”
The JL Group report also noted that Carrigan referenced a 5-3 vote by the San Bernardino City Council during his in-person interview, indicating a divided but favorable consensus at one point to offer him the job. Carrigan also noted that all three “Black councilmembers” — Kimberly Calvin, Damon Alexander, and Ben Reynoso — voted against his appointment. However, Carrigan stated he became increasingly concerned after what he described as an “orchestrated” campaign began to form around public opposition to his appointment.
“There were people who got up to speak against me at that specific Council meeting, and it just felt coordinated,” Carrigan told investigators. The report does not specify who may have organized the opposition, but it notes that Carrigan believed the effort was not spontaneous. This moment, according to Carrigan, was another turning point that ultimately pushed him to withdraw from the process.
Councilmember Alexander Admits Leaving Carrigan’s File in Public
In a pivotal moment within the JL Group report, Councilmember Damon Alexander admitted to leaving behind a confidential recruitment binder containing Carrigan’s information at a public Fatherhood event. Alexander stated that he brought the notebook with him to the event so he could study while it was taking place. When he left, the book was on the table where he had been seated next to Mr. Berryman.
“I brought it with me so I could study,” Alexander told investigators, acknowledging that he accidentally left the binder on a table before it was later recovered and returned to the Mayor’s office. The folder’s contents were not secured, potentially exposing candidate information to members of the public.