Patrick Gallegos is now the permanent Seal Beach city manager.
The City Council on Monday, June 23, 2025 voted to appoint Gallegos as the permanent successor to former city manager Jill Ingram. The council also approved the contract with Gallegos, which includes a $3,000 raise from his base pay as interim city manager. (See “Council gives Gallegos 10% pay raise,” at sunnews.org.)
This was the last item on the agenda. Monday’s meeting was not quite three hours long.
Gallegos, “out of an abundance of caution,” recused himself from this item. He left the Council Chambers while the council considered the matter.
The vote was 4 to 1. Councilwoman Patty Senecal cast the dissenting vote.
Following the vote, Gallegos returned to the chambers. Council, staff, and the only remaining member of the public stood and applauded.
The video of the council meeting had 128 views on YouTube by the following morning. It is not known how many individuals watched the live TV broadcast.
Senecal’s comments
“In the staff report, on page 2, it only talks about the base salary,” Senecal said.
“I think, for transparency reasons, we should also be including the burden package—that is, all the benefits—so our citizens know what the whole package looks like,” she said.
“I’d also like to see in the future—instead of an amendment on an amendment on an amendment, and we had a fourth amendment—that we look at having clean contracts,” Senecal said.
She said it was a challenge printing out and looking at the amendments. “You had to figure out what was highlighted, what wasn’t,” she said.
Going forward, she wanted cleaner contracts.
She said she would vote no because of the contract.
“There are elements in the contract that I do not agree with,” Senecal said.
She also cited the structural deficit.
City Attorney Nicholas Ghirelli said the next time his law firm would prepare a version that includes all the amendments incorporated into a single document.
Finance Director Barbara Arenado said the increase was not a significant amount. She said the “burden” was just under $4,000 and his pay increase for the year was under $3,000.
“I’m talking about the full contract, so not just this small raise right here,” Senecal said.
She said the council, because of prior councils, had inherited the terms of prior contracts.
Arenado said: “His terms are substantially different in terms of the previous city manager’s.” The Finance Department director said Gallegos phone allowance, car allowance, and Public Employee Retirement System expenditures, were different and lower from the previous city manager’s. She said his agreement was the same as any other member of the executive team at the city of Seal Beach.
Council comments
Earlier, District Two Councilman Ben Wong said he in the mind frame of asking: Is he the right person for this job. “Absolutely yes,” Wong said.
After Senecal explained her intention to vote no, District Five Councilman Nate Steele said the city was lucky to have Gallegos. “Patrick is a high-caliber integrity guy,” Steele said. “He’s been in this city for 12 years, I believe, and he knows everything.”
Steele said he had seen Gallegos rise to become CEO of a $48 million corporation, apparently a reference to the city of Seal Beach.
“We would be a lot worse off if we had to go outside and start searching around for other city managers and go through that search process,” Steele said. “It would be extremely expensive and I feel unnecessary.”
District Three Councilwoman/Mayor Lisa Landau said she wanted to clarify that this was a continuation of his assistant city manager contract, except for adding $3,000.
City Attorney Ghirelli said that was correct, but added that Gallegos would now be the city manager not the assistant city manager.
“To take away benefits, we’d actually have to change the contract,” Landau said.
“That’s correct,” Ghirelli said. “At that point, he would receive less than the other department heads.”
Wong moved to approve the contract.
District One Councilman Joe Kalmick seconded the motion.
Gallegos comments
“It’s been a long journey in this city,” Gallegos said.
He thanked the council for having the confidence in him to take the position. “I used to live in this community, a long time ago, and it’s grown on me,” Gallegos said.
He said he’d been with the city for 13 years. He said he had been in other cities. “I’m from a small town originally, and this is right up my alley,” he said.
“I will never be perfect, but I will always work hard,” he said.
Other comments
The Sun texted and emailed requests for comments from past city council members Schelly Sustarisic, Mike Varipapa, Sandra Massa-Lavitt, and Ellery Deaton, who all knew Gallegos before he was appointed city manager. The message to Varipapa bounced back undelivered.
“We are currently in a structural deficit and it will take a person with strength and focus to cut the budget, restructure and bring businesses back to town,” wrote Ellery Deaton.
“Patrick has been with our city for 13 years. This is his opportunity to prove to the council, residents and businesses that he is the right City Manager for the job,” Deaton wrote.
Former council member Schelly Sustarsic wrote: “I have worked with Patrick Gallegos for 8 years and have bound him to be both knowledgeable an professional. Patrick attended the recent Water and Sewer Rate Open House last Saturday and came up to CPE to speak with a resident about an issue with a coyote. I have high hopes that he will be a city manager who is available to the public and also transparent in the workings of city government.”
Background
Gallegos has been interim city manager since Nov. 1, 2024. Gallegos was formally appointed interim city manager in August 2024, according to a staff report prepared by the city attorney. The previous city manager, Jill Ingram, resigned in August, effective October of that year. (See “Ingram resigns,” at sunnews.org.)
A review of closed (to the public) City Council agendas for 2025 shows the council evaluated Gallegos’s performance on Feb. 24. The council began discussing the hiring/appointment of a city manager on March 10. The council began having conferences with the labor negotiator (City Attorney Nicholas Ghirelli) and the interim city manager (not identified by name in the document, but Gallegos). The council continued discussing the appointment of a city manager and labor negotiations with the city manager in all subsequent closed session agendas up to the appointment appearing the regular council agenda for June 23.
“Over the past several months, the City Council has considered the selection of the next City Manager,” wrote Ghirelli in his staff report.
“This process included soliciting proposals from executive recruiting firms and evaluating Mr. Gallegos’ performance in his role as Interim City Manager. After an extensive evaluation of Mr. Gallegos over the past seven months, including his management of the recent budget process for Fiscal Year 25/26, the City Council has selected him as the next City Manager of the City of Seal Beach,” Ghirelli wrote.
“Mr. Gallegos has been working for the City of Seal Beach since 2012. He was appointed Assistant City Manager in 2014.
“In that capacity, Mr. Gallegos was primarily responsible for managing human resources, including serving as lead negotiator for labor agreements with all of the City’s labor groups. He was also responsible for managing various City franchises, such as the solid waste franchise, and overseeing the City’s IT infrastructure. He also serves as the City’s Risk Manager and Public Information Officer,” Ghirelli wrote.
“As a result of these varied roles, Mr. Gallegos has considerable experience working with City departments, officials, residents, and businesses,” Ghirelli wrote.
Terms of the new employment agreement include:
“Mr. Gallegos’ annual base salary will be $270,000. This reflects an increase of approximately $3,000 per year over Mr. Gallegos’ current base salary in his capacity as Interim City Manager ($267,091.11),” Ghirelli wrote.
“The City Council will conduct an annual performance evaluation of Mr. Gallegos on or before January 30th of each year, beginning in 2026,” Ghirelli wrote.
