Howard Chan was so influential as city manager of Sacramento, he remains on the city payroll for all of 2025 despite resigning from his position last December. Not long after walking away because the city wouldn’t meet his contract terms, it appeared that Chan was returning to a new position of influence as a “special advisor” to his successor, interim City Manager Leyne Milstein.
Or so Chan announced on social media mid-January, to the surprise of pretty much everyone at City Hall.
It turns out this latest drama involving Chan was about his outsized ego running headlong into city officials who were done with all the drama he created in 2024 with his constant lobbying for himself, his pay and benefits. By the end, even some friends in business and labor had grown weary of it and him…