After more than two months of escalating tension inside Scottsdale City Hall, Mayor Lisa Borowsky’s chief of staff, R. Lamar Whitmer, was fired on March 20, 2026, following a 65-day internal investigation, according to city management. Whitmer had been placed on paid, non-disciplinary suspension and escorted out of City Hall on Jan. 14, a move that set off days of very public sparring between the mayor’s office and top city officials over who really calls the shots in Scottsdale government.
City management confirmed Whitmer’s termination at the conclusion of the inquiry, as reported by KTAR News. He had previously been put on paid leave and escorted from the building on Jan. 14, according to ABC15. The city has not disclosed what specific policy violations triggered the investigation, leaving a key piece of the story sealed behind personnel rules.
Mayor Pushes Back
One week after Whitmer was removed, Borowsky took the unusual step of turning a personnel dispute into a public showdown. At a Jan. 21 press conference, she demanded that City Manager Greg Caton identify which policies Whitmer was accused of breaking and said her office had not been briefed on the allegations, according to Axios Phoenix.
Borowsky said the way Whitmer was escorted from City Hall looked less like routine HR procedure and more like an effort to sideline her administration. She told reporters she believed the move was intended to undercut her office and that she was weighing whether to call for Caton’s resignation while she pressed for answers, Axios Phoenix reported.
City Management’s Response
City leadership has insisted this is not a political hit job but a standard workplace matter that happened to unfold in a very public arena. Scottsdale Communications Director Holly Peralta said there was no hidden agenda behind the investigation or Whitmer’s removal…