Rob AriasFormer Emeryville City Manager Sabrina Landreth is seeking legal counsel after resigning from the East Bay Regional Park District over the weekend.
The EBPRD published a press release on Saturday announcing Landreth had resigned from her position as General Manager. “Following a closed session on Saturday, Nov. 8, the EBRPD Board of Directors voted unanimously to appoint current Deputy General Manager Max Korten as the Acting General Manager,” the release states.
The following day, Landreth announced she was seeking legal counsel against the district saying that her resignation was actually ‘constructive termination’ by the Board after she refused their demands. According to Landreth, the board demanded she take actions that would have violated open government and personnel laws, and harmed her professional and personal reputation.
Landreth said she could not perform her job under a Board of Directors which was not exercising appropriate governance and operates without adequate checks and balances. “The Board was demanding that I compromise my integrity and values. I would not do that,” she said. “I stand by my values and my reputation as a professional administrator for the past twenty-five years.”
“I am proud of my accomplishments during my EBRPD tenure,” Landreth added. “There were many projects I had started and am disappointed not to complete because my time was cut short by the Board.”
The EBRPD Board consists of seven elected members representing geographic “wards” in the East Bay including Elizabeth Echols (1), Lynda Deschambault (2), Dennis Waespi (3), Luana España (4), Olivia Sanwong (5), John Mercurio (6) and Colin Coffey (7).
Most of Landreth’s career has been in administration for local government and regional bodies. Her first City Manager position was with Emeryville when she was hired in 2013. She departed for Oakland two years later in 2015 where she spent almost five years under a tumultuous Libby Schaaf-led Oakland before stepping down in 2020.
She next served as a staff member in the California State Assembly helping advance state and local legislative initiatives before being hired as the General Manager for EBPRD in 2021. She was the first woman to serve as General Manager in the District’s 91 year history. Her contract was renewed in 2024 for an additional five years.
Landreth also serves on a number of advisory boards including The Oakland Museum of California and the UC Berkeley Goldman School of Public Policy.
Landreth has retained Public Relations professionals Singer Associates, Inc. who are headquartered in Emeryville.
Thanks for covering this news, Rob. Sabrina is a talented and gifted public administrator who always has the common good at heart.
I worked for Sabrina in Oakland. She was always moral, ethical, respectful and responsive to her City Council. She’s also smart and talented. Someone will pick up a dynamite administrator.
Whats really sad is having elected officials be stewards over delicate park lands and they don’t use science in their decision making process, they use politics and nostalgia as species go extinct.