District 2 incumbent Jim Waring and challenger Virgel Cain talked about the pending departure of Phoenix City Manager David Cavazos at a KJZZ election forum Thursday night. Cavazos will leave Phoenix for the same position in Santa Ana, Calif. after receiving a $78,000 raise last year. Both candidates disagreed with the raise, and they are willing to look elsewhere for a replacement to Cavazos. Waring said the new city manager does not have to be from within.
"I would normally probably like to see someone external. No reflection on the internal candidates from the city of Phoenix for the police chief job, but I think sometimes change is healthy," Waring said.
Cain said an outside search would be expensive.
"And I'm not saying we shouldn't do that, I think we need to look inside first, because I think it's going to cost us less money," Cain said.
Cavazos will leave for Santa Ana in mid-October.