Saugatuck mayor said no decisions would be made in workshop — they were anyway
SAUGATUCK — Three hours after Mayor Lauren Stanton told attendees of a workshop session there'd be no decisions made that night, members of the Saugatuck City Council voted to enter a nearly $100,000 resignation agreement with City Manager Ryan Heise — without mentioning his name.
More: Saugatuck City Manager was paid nearly $100K in exchange for resignation. Here's what we know.
About two minutes into the meeting, Stanton said the items on the agenda for Feb. 21 were "for discussion only." She was addressing dozens of taxpayers who'd shown up to speak on short-term rentals; few of whom remained after the late-meeting closed session that led to a decision on Heise.
Mayor Pro-Tem Helen Baldwin's motion after that closed session was "to accept the city attorney’s recommendation to negotiate a resignation agreement consistent with the parameters discussed in closed session and to authorize the mayor and clerk to execute the same.”
Less than a week later, the city issued a release announcing Heise' resignation, claiming it was "widely known" he had intentions of relocating his family to Minnesota to consider new career opportunities. The release shared Heise's varied accomplishments and accolades since his appointment in 2020. It failed to mention what the city agreed to pay in return for his departure.
Last week, The Sentinel obtained the resignation agreement after filing a Freedom of Information Act request.
According to the agreement signed by City Clerk Jamie Wolters on March 4, Saugatuck will pay Heise a lump sum of 10.25 months of his annual salary, or $98,650, in exchange for his resignation.
Heise will receive 144 hours of pay for unused vacation time, and will keep insurance benefits through Dec. 30.
Under his original contract, Heise was required to give a month's notice before resigning. Under the new agreement, that was waived.
Heise also agreed not to re-apply for employment with the city unless asked to do so in writing, and the city agreed not to provide more than his dates of employment and job title to prospective employers unless Heise signs a written request.
It wasn't immediately clear why the agreement was made. A request for comment went unanswered by councilmembers. Heise's contract called for six months' pay if councilmembers voted to fire him, plus an additional month's pay for each year he spent with the city — a number slightly lower than the resignation agreement.
The city did not, however, need to pay out those funds upon a finding of "misfeasance or malfeasance of office or duties" after a hearing before council.
Taxpayers weren't happy with the news, if the latest meeting Monday, March 11, was any indication.
"There's basically two issues here," said resident Joe Leonatti. "One story is that he resigned to go to greener pastures. ... The other story is that he was forced to resign and I don't think anyone in this council is vindictive, so I assume that if that was the case, (that) must have been for cause. In either case, if someone resigns for a better job, and you can't fault him for that, why are we paying him?
"The other reason, if he was fired for cause, which is certainly feasible with some of the things that I witnessed, why are you paying him?"
In a letter sent to Wolters, Interim City Manager Ryan Cummins and Council, resident Gary Medler voiced his frustration with a motion being made during a workshop.
“This purposely orchestrated workshop scheme with amending the agenda and placing it after the final public comment period lacked any transparency and appears intended to hide and deceive the public,” Medler wrote. “It wasn’t until after council approved its closed session decisions that someone realized no one invited the public back into open session.”
More than one former mayor has weighed in, including Bill Hess, who called for transparency.
“A day-by-day timeline detailing what occurred and when it occurred would greatly help your citizens understand just what happened,” Hess wrote. “While I understand there are legal issues that do not allow disclosures of some specific information, the timeline should state which details cannot be provided.”
He called for that information to be given during the next council meeting Monday, March 25.
In the meantime, Cummins continues to fill the role. The city, on Monday, agreed to pay $9,800 to Walsh Municipal Services for help finding Heise's replacement.
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That comes despite an attempt to table the item by Councilman Gregory Muncey, who felt the city should take additional time to consider the role of the city manager and potentially seek bids for firms to aid in the search.
"I think we should slow down and take our time," Muncey said.
Council also approved an additional $1,000 weekly stipend to Cummins.
— Contact reporter Austin Metz at ametz@hollandsentinel.com.
This article originally appeared on The Holland Sentinel: Saugatuck mayor said no decisions would be made in workshop — they were anyway
