ACM Snipes placed on administrative leave

The Austin Monitor has learned that Austin City Manager Marc Ott has placed Assistant City Manager Anthony Snipes on paid administrative leave. The move comes after news broke that Snipes had organized a controversial training designed to help staff cope with a female-majority City Council.

Ott’s memo, sent to the Mayor and City Council, reads as follows:

“As stated in my memo to you yesterday, the remarks made in the referenced training are not reflective in any way of our culture, philosophy, or approach toward managing this organization, nor our approach toward partnering with the City Council. I also promised to work toward addressing this issue swiftly and directly. To that end, I have already begun an investigation into how this training was implemented without the appropriate vetting.

As we do in any evaluation of a serious personal issue, I have put Assistant City Manger Anthony Snipes on Administrative Leave pending the outcome of this investigation. In the interim Human Resource Director Mark Washington will be the Acting Assistant City Manager.