Mayor says prior severance agreement violated city code and cost around $70,000

Mayor Lance Munyon told the Phillipsburg City Council on Feb. 16 that the previous administration had assigned powers to the city administrator that are defined in city code and that the council must decide whether to eliminate the city administrator position or place a resolution on the ballot to let voters decide a change in government structure.

Munyon said the previous administration entered a severance agreement with the former city administrator on Dec. 15, 2025 after the administrator submitted a resignation on Dec. 2, 2025. Munyon said the agreement provided 24 weeks of pay and continued employees’ insurance and benefits during that 24-week period and that "the total cost of the agreement to the city was around $70,000." He said a redacted copy of the agreement is attached to the minutes.

Munyon also cited state public-records law, saying that under Kansas law settlement agreements funded with public monies qualify as public records subject to disclosure under the Kansas Open Records Act (K.S.A. 45-215) and that contractual provisions attempting to keep settlement terms secret are void. He further said the council should clarify in city code whether a city administrator position should exist and, if so, what duties it should carry or, alternatively, place the question before voters.

City Clerk Brandi Spray informed the council that the firehouse roof was not budgeted in the Fire Department Fund for 2026, a budgetary note related to the previously discussed Roofmasters bid of $117,000.

The council took no formal vote on altering the city code during the Feb. 16 meeting; Munyon urged either a resolution to place the city-administrator question on the ballot or adding explicit duties into the city code for future council action.