NEWS ANALYSIS : Low Employee Morale Cost Lewis His Job : City Hall: Resignations lead Councilwoman Chu to cast deciding vote against the controversial city manager.

The recent resignations of two key city department heads cost City Manager Mark Lewis the support of one of his staunchest allies, Councilwoman Judy Chu.

Chu cast the swing vote in the City Council’s surprise decision Monday to fire Lewis, who has been blamed for low employee morale.

The action, announced after a two-hour closed-door session, capped more than a year of bitter controversy involving the city manager, whose backers considered him a voice for aggressive affirmative action policies.

On Wednesday afternoon, about 100 people--mostly local Chinese-Americans--picketed City Hall protesting Lewis’ removal. Some also demanded that Chu be recalled, linking her vote against Lewis to a rejection of programs such as preferential hiring for bilingual 911 dispatchers. Chu had voted for the hiring plan, which the city Personnel Board voted down.

In March, 1990, when then-City Councilman Barry Hatch wanted to fire Lewis, Chu joined the council majority in rushing to his defense and blocked the ouster.

Three months later, under a different City Council, Lewis survived another attempt to remove him. That time, the manager’s sole council detractor was Betty Couch, now mayor.

Earlier this year, Couch tried again. She was joined only by Councilwoman Marie T. Purvis, however, and she failed to muster enough votes to call for Lewis’ resignation. The city manager was spared again.

But by this week Chu had switched sides, and she led the charge against the embattled manager. The council voted 3-2 to suspend Lewis for 30 days before firing him--effectively giving him notice--and appointed city Management Services Director Chris Jeffers as acting city manager. Council members Fred Balderrama and Sam Kiang voted against the action.

Initially, the council asked Lewis to resign during the closed session, council members said. When he refused to leave voluntarily, the council voted to fire him. He still has the option of resigning during his 30-day suspension, however.

“The majority of the council no longer supports his management style,” Couch said. “It’s time for a change.”

Lewis declined comment. He left the council chambers to pack his belongings immediately after the vote. In the past, he has acknowledged morale problems in City Hall, but he blamed Monterey Park’s history of political turmoil.

Lewis came to Monterey Park as city manager in 1988. Previously, he was city manager in South San Francisco.

The city manager’s critics, led by Couch and Purvis, say Lewis bent city hiring policies, gave improper salary increases and created a difficult work environment that caused four of nine department heads to resign over the last eight months.

Chu said the resignations this month of Personnel Director Mario Beas and City Librarian Elizabeth Minter were pivotal in her decision to cast the deciding vote against Lewis. She also talked to employees and other department heads who said they were about to resign themselves.

“I asked many questions and I was determined to find the answer,” she said Tuesday. “I was finally able to talk to more employees than had formerly been willing to talk to me . . . Having a 44% turnover rate (among department heads) is really a lot compared to other cities.”

Her action represents a dramatic shift in position from three months ago, when Couch and Purvis wanted to hire a private consultant to investigate Lewis’ management practices and employee complaints.

At the time, Chu likened the accusations against Lewis to “a witch hunt . . . designed to confuse residents and to cast a negative tenor over all that’s gone on in the city.”

Couch herself had offered support for Lewis in March, 1990, when he was embroiled in conflict with Hatch.

“I give him a 100% vote of confidence,” Couch said in 1990 before voting to retain Lewis. But after several months of investigating Hatch’s complaints about the city manager, Couch said she found them to be valid. A year later, Purvis followed suit.

Chu said until recently, she was unaware of the widespread morale problems. Previously, she said, employees had been hesitant to approach her with complaints because they perceived her as a Lewis ally. Likewise, she said, they shied away from Kiang and Balderrama, who also backed Lewis.

While Chu was mayor in 1990, Lewis enthusiastically supported and carried out programs she spearheaded, most notably Harmony Week, an event last year that celebrated Monterey Park’s ethnic diversity. He also helped organize a trip Chu and other city officials took to Monterey Park’s sister city in Taiwan, a trip Chu actively promoted.

Earlier this year, Lewis, as a member of the board of directors of the Monterey Park Boys’ and Girls’ Club, nominated Chu as Citizen of the Year.

“If I was basing my decision just on personal gain, of course I would vote to retain Mark because he was very attentive to me,” Chu said. “If my vote had to do with the future of City Hall, it would have to be to do what I did.”

But Kiang, who along with Balderrama has vigorously defended the city manager, criticized Chu for the “sudden” manner in which she sought Lewis’ removal.

“I asked Judy (last week), ‘What do you know that I don’t know?’ ” he said Tuesday. “If you don’t tell me, it’s all hearsay. . . . The whole thing was a kangaroo court. I felt it was so unfair to Mark, after what Mark has done for Judy.”

Meanwhile, several residents who attended Monday’s meeting approached Chu, Couch and Purvis to commend them. One person handed each of them a rose.

“I feel much more confident tonight,” said resident Lucy Ammeian, a former member of the city’s Personnel Board. “The city manager put a lot of fears in this city. That was obvious.”