This Tuesday, March 7th, the city manager, Matt Brower, wants to renew his manager’s contract. This is an unusual situation and I’ve been watching for the city manager to finally provide these details to the public. This proposal was just released Thursday night. Now, it will be voted on Tuesday at the City Council meeting.
I invite you to send your comments on this proposed city manager contract to: ccpublic@heberut.gov Comments will be sent to all council members and posted in the meeting record.
Here’s the situation:
- The city manager’s contract doesn’t expire until September 2024 but he is asking now for another three-year term of employment thru March 7, 2026 with new protections.
- In the current city manager’s contact, if terminated ‘without a cause’ from his position, he receives a generous nine months of severance pay.
- If ‘terminated with cause’ he does not receive the nine months of severance pay with the current contract.
- Now the city manager wants his position protected with a NEW appeals process if he is ‘terminated with cause.’
- These new protections would require:
- The city council must vote for a formal investigation for ‘termination with cause.’
- Allow the manager to give a written response with no deadline for the response.
- Require the city to hire an independent attorney to investigate the written ‘termination with cause.’
- City Council takes another vote to ‘terminate with cause.’
- Then gives the city manager 30 days to appeal ‘termination with cause’ to the Wasatch County 4th Judicial District Court.
The city manager is the highest paid city employee and an ‘at will’ employee. ‘At will’ means the city manager serves at the pleasure of the Council without any guarantees of keeping the job. The risk of job termination is part of this highest salaried city position.
Ultimately, it seems this proposed contract change would make it exceedingly difficult for the City to let go of the city manager ‘with cause.’
The city manager’s current contract, passed September 2021, gives these reasons for ‘termination with cause’: (1) the manager is found guilty of a Class B misdemeanor, (2) violation of the Utah Municipal Employee Ethics Act, (3) the City Council claims gross mismanagement or acts of moral turpitude.
Click here to see the proposed contract Scroll down to page 4 at the top, or ‘page 3 of 7’ at the bottom of the actual page. Note the yellow-highlighted changes Mr. Brower is proposing in ‘Section 10: Termination for Cause.’
Here are some questions I have:
- Should any ‘at will’ employee be able to appeal termination?
- What if the Judge awards damages?
- How much could it cost the City to hire an attorney and go to court?
- What if the Court’s decision is appealed by either side?
- Why would the current City Council want to bind any future Council members with this cumbersome, extensive and expensive appeals process?
- Does this new appeals process make the City Manager more accountable to you?
- Does it make the city manager more accountable to the City Council?
In my opinion, this proposed process gives the city manager exclusive protections and creates new cumbersome, painful, and expensive requirements for the city — all while trying to hire a new city manager.
The city values all our employees and we try to treat each fairly and with respect for the work they do. Most of our employees are merited employees and some are ‘at will’ employees per state and city code. They know when they are hired what type of employment protections they have either as merited or at will employees.
The proposed city manager’s contract does not protect the City or the ability of the City Council to ‘terminate with cause’ and move on with a new employee. It does not protect the City’s budget. Our responsibility is to be fair to our employees and also be good stewards of city funds.
Again, I invite you to send your public comments to: ccpublic@heberut.gov
Also, you can attend Tuesday, March 7, at 6:00 pm, and voice your opinions to the Council during this agenda item.
The Mayor's Report 