Lemon Grove City Clerk Joel Pablo has resigned — the latest in a recent wave of departures — and warned officials of top-down administrative problems, urging them to “look closely at management at the top.”
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His exit comes after more than three years on the job, and amid an effort to restructure the city’s operations to reduce turnover.
“My leaving was about the conditions I worked in and about the management at the top of this organization,” Pablo said in a written statement that was read to the City Council Tuesday by Lemon Grove Planning Commissioner Jacquelyn Clark.
Regulars at City Council meetings knew Pablo as the clerk who collected speaker slips during public comments, handled their records requests and frequently troubleshot the city’s outdated audio system that often failed at the start of meetings.
His resignation was effective Oct. 15.
Last year, longtime City Manager Lydia Romero departed her post after city leaders did not renew her contract. Her exit was the start of a string of vacancies that left Lemon Grove without permanent leadership in key roles, including the finance director and senior management analyst positions.
Officials said the vacancies created organizational instability, spurring a staffing overhaul in June where leaders voted to hire a full-time code enforcement officer, fill a senior management analyst position and scrap plans to hire a community development director.
“These vacancies cause havoc,” Mayor Alysson Snow said at the time.
In a written statement submitted to The San Diego Union-Tribune, Pablo compared his job duties to those of clerks in nearby cities, noting he alone completed work he was often told “should be a three-person office.”
“I am not the only one who has walked out these doors; a finance director, senior management analyst and other dedicated professionals have left in a short span of time,” Pablo said. “When good people leave, one after another, it deserves honest attention, so I ask the council to look closely at management at the top.”
In his letter, he specifically noted his leaving was “not because of any mayor, city council member, and … not because of any planning commissioners.”
After a months-long recruitment and vetting process, city leaders selected Tony Winney to serve as the permanent city manager. He served as Lemon Grove’s interim top administrator for seven months before he was made the permanent pick in August.
“The city cannot respond regarding confidential personnel matters,” Winney said in a written statement. “Mr. Pablo has left employment with the city and we wish him well on his future endeavors.”
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Before submitting his resignation, Pablo said he asked the city’s administration for support “a number of times, especially this year.”
“Only after I submitted my resignation letter in September 2026 did the city take my concerns seriously and by then it was too little, too late,” he said in a statement.
Officials have since hired Kara Johnson to serve as interim city clerk, according to city records.
In his resignation statement, Pablo said his parting wish was that the city fund an assistant or deputy city clerk position.
“I was ignored, but I don’t want somebody else to go through what I did,” Pablo said.
After reading Pablo’s letter to city leaders, Clark asked the council to study how employee needs are met and suggested they amend the city’s administrative code to create a space for employees to share their concerns — outside of a direct supervisor.
In an interview, Pablo said he was concerned his resignation statement was being misconstrued and reiterated that his leaving “was not because of the mayor.”
In Lemon Grove, the city clerk is paid an annual salary of about $94,676, according to the salary plan for the last fiscal year.
“Serving the people of Lemon Grove as their City Clerk has been one of the great privileges of my life,” Pablo said. “I have truly cared for this community and I gave it everything I had.”
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