Longview City Council approves employment agreement for Jennifer Wills as city manager

The Longview City Council approved an employment agreement for Jennifer Wills as city manager at a special meeting Thursday, Jan. 30. The council accepted an amendment requiring any future cost-of-living adjustments (COLAs) for the city manager’s salary to be reviewed and approved by the council before taking effect; an attempt to reduce severance from six months’ salary to three months failed.

The COLA amendment was proposed and adopted during debate on the agreement, and the final motion to approve the employment agreement as amended passed by voice vote; individual roll-call tallies were not recorded in the meeting transcript. Jennifer Wills, the incoming city manager, spoke briefly after the vote and thanked the council and staff for the opportunity, saying, “I am honored to be your city manager, and now let's get to work.”

Why it matters: approving an employment agreement establishes the terms of the city manager’s compensation and separation benefits and sets administrative expectations for future salary adjustments. The council’s requirement that COLAs receive council review means future automatic adjustments will be subject to explicit legislative oversight.

Key details from the meeting: - Cost-of-living adjustments: A council member proposed adding the sentence “however, any such cost of living adjustment shall be subject to review and approval by the city council before taking effect” to the contract’s compensation section. The amendment was adopted and incorporated into the employment agreement. The contract language otherwise preserves that COLAs are “as are applicable to any other nonrepresented professional, technical, and administrative employee at the city as established annually at the discretion of the city council.”

- Severance and insurance: The draft contract originally provided for severance equal to six months of the city manager’s then-current base salary plus six months of continued insurance benefits if the city terminated the manager without cause. A council member moved to change the severance pay portion to three months while leaving six months of continued insurance; that amendment failed and the six-month severance provision remained in the contract as presented.

- Vehicle allowance: During questions about compensation, a city staff member identified as Sabrina clarified that prior city managers received a $500 monthly vehicle allowance. Sabrina said, “500 dollars. That is consistent with our previous city managers.” The contract retains the vehicle allowance in the compensation section.

- Legal and procedural clarifications: Interim City Attorney Archer advised the council that because the agenda did not include an executive session, the council could not move into one. When asked about administering the oath of office, Archer said she believed “the oath does not have to be delivered in an open meeting,” adding that she could not discuss privileged legal advice in open session. The council and staff discussed having Wills sign the agreement and then administering the oath after the signed agreement was completed.

- Public participation: No public speakers are recorded on this agenda item in the meeting transcript.

The council completed a brief signing ceremony after the vote; the meeting adjourned at 5:18 p.m. The contract, as amended to require council review of COLAs and with the original severance and insurance provisions intact, was signed at the meeting and will govern Wills’s employment as city manager unless the council later amends it.