New Tallahassee City Manager will be paid $317k base salary
By Skip Foster, Red Tape Florida
The Tallahassee City Commission Wednesday will consider a five-year, $317,000-a-year base salary as a part of the contract for incoming City Manager Karen Jumonville. That’s about $13,000 higher than her predecessor Reese Goad, who spent 10 years as city manager and 27 years with the city.
Also, tucked into the proposed agreement is a significant new protection for Tallahassee’s top administrator: Jumonville could only be removed by a two-thirds vote of the City Commission.
On Tallahassee’s five-member Commission, that means four votes.
Do the math: Three commissioners can approve Jumonville’s contract Wednesday. Once she’s in the job, those same three commissioners couldn’t fire her.
Outgoing City Manager Reese Goad doesn’t have that protection, according to a City Commission source. Goad can be removed by a simple majority.
The City acknowledges the new provision in Wednesday’s agenda item, but doesn’t compare it to Goad’s contract. Instead, it notes that the two-thirds requirement is the same protection provided to the City’s Inspector General.
That’s an interesting comparison.
The Inspector General is, by design, an independent watchdog. The city manager is the administrative head of city government who reports directly to the City Commission, supervises City operations and employees, oversees public safety, administers the budget and carries out the policies and direction of the Commission. That’s how the City itself describes the job.
Jumonville was selected last week following a nationwide search that attracted 37 applicants from nine states and Washington, D.C., including 13 current or former city and county managers. The Commission ultimately chose its own deputy city manager, who previously served as assistant city manager and Growth Management director.
Now commissioners are being asked to give her an initial five-year contract running through September 2031. At the proposed $317,000 starting salary, that’s $1.585 million in base salary if she serves the entire initial term — before any raises or additional benefits. The agreement automatically renews for another two years unless either side gives six months’ notice, with additional two-year automatic renewals after that.
The proposed agreement gives Jumonville a $1,000-a-month automobile allowance, increasing by $50 each year, along with the maximum allowable annual City contribution to a 457 deferred-compensation account.
If four commissioners do eventually vote to terminate her for convenience, taxpayers would not owe the balance of the five-year contract. Jumonville would instead be entitled to 20 weeks of salary and benefits, along with two months’ notice or pay and benefits in lieu of some or all of that notice period.
Jumonville may turn out to be a terrific city manager. That’s not the issue.
The question for commissioners Wednesday is much simpler:
Why should this City Commission be able to hire Tallahassee’s city manager with three votes — while making a future City Commission find four votes to fire her?