UPDATED: Afton's top boss ousted
To the surprise of many, including two council members, Afton City Council voted to discontinue its contract with City Administrator Sara Irvine on Tuesday, Feb. 7.
During the meeting, the Afton Personnel Committee, made up of Council member Peg Nolz and Mayor Pat Snyder, presented an agreement outlining the end of Irvine’s employment.
The agreement passed the full council on a 3-2 vote, with Council members Bill Palmquist and Randy Nelson dissenting.
Irvine did not comment during the meeting. However, after the vote she took her nameplate and sat in the audience.
The agreement, which was agreed upon by both Irvine and the Personnel Committee, does not state any specifics on the agreement cancelation.
The agreement was presented to the surprise of Palmquist and Nelson who stated they were completely caught off guard as to why Irvine was leaving.
“I thought the one thing we worked very hard on was continuity,” Palmquist said. “I’m caught off guard quite a bit.
“You negotiated an agreement before we knew anything.”
Plamquist requested that moving forward the Personnel Committee consist of all five City Council members.
“I don’t know how you can negotiate with just two of you there,” he said. “I don’t ever want this to happen again – I think politics are getting in the way.”
Palmquist’s motion failed, however all City Council members agreed that it could be a discussion for a different date.
Nelson questioned the reasons for the agreement and City Attorney Fritz Knaak advised that those discussions were not appropriate for a public forum. However, Knaak did say the agreement was not drafted for a cause.
The agreement states: “Both parties specifically and expressly recognize that the end of this employment relationship is not ‘for cause’ within the legal meaning of the term.”
“That was a sweeping change that was made by the personnel committee,” Nelson said. “There had to be a cause.”
The agreement that City Council outlined said the decision was mutual, the city will draft a positive letter of recommendation for Irvine, she will be paid three months of salary and she will receive compensation for vacation time and personal time accrued at a maximum of 128 hours.
"I think it’s a fair agreement, I think it’s in the best interest of the city," Mayor Pat Snyder said, "and Sara feels that it is in her best interest."
Requests for comments were not returned.
The agreement has a clause that states: “Both parties agree to refrain from any disparaging or negative public comments of any kind that could be related to their employment relationship, the conduct of either during that relationship, or any other matters that could be viewed objectively as reflecting negatively on the City or the on Irvine personally.”
Irvine was hired as Afton’s city administrator in February of last year after having working as the city’s assistant city administrator since 2009.
Irvine was Afton’s first full-time administrator after the city had a string of interim administrators since February of 2008 when then-Administrator Shelly Strauss resigned.
Irvine worked 32 hours per week at a salary of $54,662.40 per year.
Irvine’s past experience in public administration includes being administrator for the cities of Minnetonka Beach and Tonka Bay. Irvine had also worked as a business administrator for a Lutheran church in Mound.
An interim administrator needed
Since Irvine’s departure was effective immediately, City Council voted to contact Afton’s former interim city administrator and government affairs consultant, Ron Moorse, to see if he would be interested in filling the position.
“It would be nice to get someone in here as soon as possible,” Richter said.
Moorse, who accepted the interim position, met with City Council Monday to discuss the terms of his contract.
Afton City Council approved Moorse’s former contract, which will see him work 20 hours per week at a salary of $45,000 per year, pro-rated.
Moorse started the job on Tuesday.
City Council asked Moorse, who currently has four applications in with other cities, whether or not he would be interested in a permanent position.
Moorse said he would be open to having a discussion about a permanent position at a later date.
“I wouldn’t want to say I’m ready to jump right into something,” he said.
Palmquist said he would be eager to find a permanent position for Moorse.
“I think we’re lucky to have someone who has had experience here,” he said.
Nelson said he would like to see a stronger contract moving forward.
“If it does happen that you’re available, I’d like to see a contract that makes it a little harder for the city to walk away from,” he said. “It kind of seems like we’re a throw away council when we see something we don’t like.”