Ex-City Manager's $92K Paycheck Still a Mystery

BRISTOL, Va. – The city paid former City Manager Paul Spangler nearly $92,000 for consulting services, but neither the city nor Spangler produced any paperwork to show what he did to earn that money over a nine-month period.

Spangler left office in January 2007 and took accumulated sick leave and vacation time before formally retiring in June of that year. Between July 2007 and March 2008, the city paid Spangler $91,800 for unspecified consulting duties, under the terms of a separation agreement unanimously approved by the City Council in November 2006.

Yet in responding to the Bristol Herald Courier’s request under the state Freedom of Information Act for any and all documents relating to Spangler’s consulting work, the city supplied no invoices, letters, e-mails or other paperwork to substantiate that the former manager did any work.

The city did provide copies of Spangler’s 2004 employment contract and a copy of the meeting minutes where it was approved.

“I can’t give you a list of all the things I did, because I honestly don’t remember,” Spangler said Friday in a phone interview.

“I can’t tell you how many phone calls I answered from department heads, [city manager Bill] Dennison and [former Mayor Farnham] Jarrard about where things were and what had been done. I don’t know what a phone call is worth.”

Spangler said he continued to maintain the city’s Web page and remained the city’s representative on the Tri-Cities Airport Commission for some time after leaving office.

“I didn’t submit any mileage for the [airport commission] meetings I went to, and that was a 50-mile round trip from the house,” Spangler said. “That was purposefully not done, because I didn’t want it to look like I was actively working for the city. And none [documentation] was required.”

Current Mayor Jim Rector, who began serving in July 2006, said in a phone interview Thursday that the agreement with Spangler saved the city money.

“Mr. Spangler’s contract had just been renewed in July. In talking with Mr. Spangler, he had been having some health problems and wanted to go out on medical [leave],” Rector said. “If he had been fired for no cause – he was making about $132,000 a year then – we would had to have paid him almost two years salary plus a three-month severance package.”

At the 2006 meeting during which the separation package was approved, both sides said there was no animosity.

Spangler left office after about 18 years on the job and was suffering from health problems, including an erratic heartbeat and fluctuating blood pressure. The average tenure for city managers nationwide is about seven years, according to the International City/County Management Association.

The former city manager’s 2004 contract specifies four major causes for which he could have been terminated without compensation. They include gross neglect, refusal to obey a lawful written council directive, fraud or embezzlement, or confessing or being convicted of a felony.

If Spangler was terminated or not reappointed for another cause not specified in the contract, his salary and employee benefits “will be continued for a period of three months from the effective date of the termination,” according to the 2004 contract.

However, if the former manager had been terminated without cause, he would receive “all unpaid salary which would be paid to him if he had worked through the end of the term of this contract and renewals,” according to the terms of the 2004 contract.

“If we had tried to terminate him, the city probably would have had legal issues,” Rector said.

Spangler said he intended to retire on Jan. 1, 2008, so the agreement only hastened his departure by a year.

Deals like this aren’t uncommon, according to Michele Frisby, spokeswoman for the Washington, D.C.-based International City/County Management Association.

“We recommend a severance package of from six months up to a year’s salary, but it’s really up to the locality and the manager,” Frisby said in a telephone interview.

The current mayor said he couldn’t recall with certainty, but the contract language dealing with consulting duties was probably “suggested by Mr. Spangler’s attorney.”

Spangler was paid his regular salary – about $9,100 monthly – during the first six months of 2007, when he took accrued sick leave and vacation time. From July 2007 to March 2008, he received $91,800 as part of the separation agreement.

“City shall pay to city manager on the dates city pays its employees 18 payments of $5,000 and a final 19th payment of $1,800,” the 2006 separation agreement states.

The only stipulation for consulting services set forth in the contract dealt with maintaining the city’s Web site, which Spangler created.

“City manager, as long as city pays him monetary payments as a consultant pursuant to the terms of this contract, shall continue to keep the city’s Web page current,” according to the contract.

Prior to 2004, Spangler worked under one-year contracts until the city gave him the multiple-year deal.

While some communities employ a city manager that way, others work on three-year contracts or longer, Frisby said.

Bristol, Tenn., City Manager Jeff Broughton has been employed since 2004 through a series of one-year contracts that the council votes to renew every year.

According to Spangler’s contract, “city offers and city manager accepts a term of employment commencing July 1, 2004 and ending June 30, 2006. In the event no major cause for termination or non-renewal ... this contract shall be automatically renewed for a second term commencing July 1, 2006 and ending June 30, 2008.”

The contract was approved during the council’s June 22, 2004, meeting, with little discussion, according to the minutes.

“Mayor [Jerry] Wolfe pointed out that City Manager Spangler has been with the city approximately 15 years, working on a year to year contract,” according to the meeting minutes.

“He [Wolfe] further stated that the city attorney has prepared, at council’s direction, a two-year contract that would automatically be renewable in the future on a two-year basis. Mayor Wolfe stated that this comes as a recommendation by City Council,” minutes show.

Former Councilwoman Vicie Dotson then moved for approval of the contract and her motion was seconded by Councilman Harold Leonard. The contract was approved unanimously by the full council, which then also included Wolfe, Paul Hurley and Doug Weberling.

At that time, Spangler’s annual salary was established at $120,439. It also specified that he was to receive the same percentage pay increase as other city employees unless he received an unsatisfactory performance evaluation.

The current national average annual salary for managers of cities between 10,000 and 24,999 residents is about $105,000, according to the ICMA. It is slightly higher in the southern United States, at more than $106,000.

dmcgee@bristolnews.com | (276) 645-2532