Carmen Valdez, City of Milpitas’ Human Resources Department director who planned to retire next month, abruptly left Thursday after a nearly 30-year stint working for the city. Several sources inside Milpitas City Hall say Valdez was “walked out” for unknown reasons.
“Carmen Valdez has left employment in the city,” Milpitas Assistant City Manager/Finance Director Emma Karlen confirmed Friday.
Karlen said Valdez was initially set to retire in June, but accelerated her last day on the job to May 22.
Valdez, 51, earned an annual salary of more than $173,000.
Departure of the longtime employee with roots in parks and recreation is the latest in a string of department heads and city staffers who have retired, resigned or were terminated from the city’s employ in recent years.
They include Steve McHarris, the city’s former planning and neighborhood services director, who took a job in San Jose in April, and Jeff Moneda, the former Milpitas Public Works Department director/city engineer, who resigned in November to take a similar job in Foster City. Moneda replaced public works head Greg Armendariz, who abruptly retired in 2012.
The same year, Milpitas’ information services director Bill Marion and police chief Dennis Graham both retired. Diana Barnhart, the city’s former planning director, retired due to health reasons. Also that year, Bonnie Greiner, the city’s former parks and recreation director, was laid off due to budget constraints, officials said then.
In 2013, former fire chief Brian Sturdivant resigned just as an outside investigation was concluding over a potential state and federal labor law violation that was filed by an employee within the city’s fire department.
Valdez’s departure comes ahead of Milpitas City Council’s vote Tuesday for a recruitment effort to find a new human resources director.
The council’s vote will authorize the city manager to execute an agreement with Los Gatos-based William Avery & Associates to conduct the executive recruitment. The maximum cost of the recruitment and selection process for this executive position is $23,900.
According to Karlen, the recruitment will take about four months to complete.
