Cupertino City Manager Pamela Wu has been placed on paid administrative leave by the City Council, effective immediately, according to a press release from city.
“This decision was made to ensure the city can continue to operate smoothly and maintain organizational stability while allowing a fair internal review process to move forward in a constructive and focused manner,” the Friday release states.
The City Council did not elaborate on why Wu was placed on leave, or for how long.
In the meantime, Deputy City Manager Tina Kapoor will serve as acting city manager. Cupertino has had three previous city managers and had three interim city managers since 2018.
The council’s decision follows multiple closed meeting session regarding Wu’s performance, which were first held in early April. Wu said she was not apart of these meetings, and found out about her leave Friday afternoon.
On April 2, April 29, and May 2, the City Council held closed sessions regarding the city manager. All the meetings had similar ominous topics. The closed-door sessions of April 2 and April 29 had “public employee performance evaluation, city manager” as the topic.
The May 2 special closed session also included a “public employee performance evaluation” of the city manager and added “discipline” to the topic line.
“I am confused and shocked,” Wu said. “There’s not a whole lot of information that has been shared with me. I don’t know how to make sense of this decision.”
Some residents wrote letters in support of Wu in connection with the May 2 closed-door session.
“I am appalled at the treatment of our very competent city manager, Pamela Wu,” Cupertino Jean Bedford stated in a May 1 letter to the city. “Residents I have talked to respect her professionalism and her accomplishments in the last two and a half years.”
Jim Lee, in a letter to the City Council, said he believes the city manager dragged her feet on some key items such as the renovation of the existing city hall and scheduling construction works projects.
Wu was appointed city manager in August of 2022.
She most recently worked for the City of San Bruno as a Community and Economic Development director. Previously, Wu also worked for the City of Gilroy and Santa Clara County as a Senior Planner.
Staff writer George Avalos contributed to this story. Check back for updates.