LAKEPORT, Calif. – The Lakeport City Council on Tuesday evening approved a new contract with its city manager.
The council’s new contract with City Manager Margaret Silveira, who joined the city in April 2010, will now extend through May 30, 2016. The end date on her original contract was for March 31, 2013.
The contract was included in the council’s consent agenda, which usually is approved as a slate of items on one motion.
The contract, along with the rest of the consent agenda, was approved in a 4-0 vote, with Councilman Tom Engstrom recusing himself because he said he had not been present for the previous discussion of the item.
Before the contract was brought forward, Lakeport resident Nancy Ruzicka asked the council to pull the contract and allow the newly elected council to handle it once they are seated next month.
Councilman Roy Parmentier moved to have it left on the consent agenda, which was seconded by Bob Rumfelt. The terms for both men expire in December.
Mayor Stacy Mattina said the new council can’t make any changes to Silveira’s contract for 90 days, and it was decided the council who worked with Silveira would finalize the new contract.
The new contract includes the requirement that consideration of Silveira’s termination by the Lakeport City Council may not occur within 90 days after a general municipal election or special election in which new members are elected to the council.
“Any decision to terminate or not renew the Agreement shall be made in closed session and confirmed in a public meeting,” the contract says.
Silveira’s initial contract had required a 60-day period between an election and a decision about her employment, what City Attorney Steve Brookes called a “cooling off” period. He said such provisions are common in employment contracts like Silveira’s.
Silveira’s salary remains at $115,000 annually, with the same health care benefits in place, Brookes said.
While she has had positive reviews from the council, her salary is being held flat due to the city’s fiscal challenges, according to Brookes.
The new contract, like the old one, allows for Silveira to collect six months’ wages – as well as her accrued leave and COBRA, but excluding other benefits – if she is terminated before the contract ends.
Brookes told Lake County News that the main changes to the contract were the extension of the contract term, increased vacation accrual and a car allowance that wasn’t included in the first contract but which had been granted later. All of those benefits were folded into the new document, Brookes said.
Benefits include a 2.5 percent at age 55 retirement formula; sick time accrued at the rate of one day per month and vacation time at the rate of 20 days per year, per existing city policy; two weeks annual paid administrative leave, with one week to be used and one week available to be cashed out within each fiscal year; a car allowance of $400 per month; and a $60 per month cell phone stipend.
Both the original and new contracts may be seen below.
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