Price councilor urges repeal of policy that sets 24-month severance for exempt employees; calls for outside compensation study

A council member (identified in the transcript as Joe) raised detailed concerns about the city's personnel policy provision that sets severance pay for exempt employees at 24 months of salary. He said the change appeared to have been recommended by the personnel committee and warned the policy could create a multi‑hundred‑thousand‑dollar liability if several appointed department heads left at once.

Joe told the council he reviewed position descriptions and public salary listings and calculated a hypothetical minimum severance payment of about $330,160 for one community director position if the 24‑month provision applied; he said the cost for five affected positions could exceed $1.5 million. He urged the council to rescind the provision immediately and to pursue an external compensation and efficiency study. He identified Municipal Solutions as a consulting firm that had sent a letter of engagement; staff and council discussed an engagement fee in the range of $35,000 to $40,000.

Councilors and staff debated the history and scope of the change. One councilor asked who served on the personnel committee; the transcript records that Lisa Miles, the mayor and “both chiefs” were committee members. Councilors questioned whether committee membership created a conflict because some committee members would be among those eligible for the severance provision. The transcript also records that earlier policy language had set severance at 12 months in 2022–2024 and that the 24‑month figure is a recent change whose origin was not fully explained in the workshop.

Speakers repeatedly said the city's personnel policy and definitions are large and unwieldy and that the council needs certified human resources expertise to review exempt status, pay grades and the severance language. Several councilors said they supported sending the policy back to the council (rather than keeping it with the personnel committee) and requested that the item be placed on a future council agenda for formal action. One councilor offered to contact Municipal Solutions for an updated engagement letter and to seek bids if the council prefers a competitive process.

The workshop discussion did not include a formal motion or vote to repeal the severance language. Councilors framed the immediate next steps as referrals and requests for staff or the council to place the item on a future agenda and to pursue an outside study.