Avondale Estates’ board of mayor and commissioners tabled a resolution Monday night stating their refusal to honor a severance amendment in City Manager Clai Brown’s contract. The board went into executive session which is closed to the public and took no action nor set a date to address the resolution.
Nearly 100 people showed up to city hall wanting to know more about that severance. There was nearly a half hour of public discussion but ultimately no answers.
The amendment, originally approved Feb. 23, 2015, pays Brown his full annual salary plus bonuses and accrued vacation and sick leave if he resigns or is fired for any reason except if he’s fired with cause. For 2018 this comes to a total of $317,408.17 or about 9 percent of the city’s anticipated 2018 expenditures of $3,656,488.
Over the past month the AJC has interviewed several attorneys and commissioners and city managers (current and past) outside Avondale on this matter. None has ever heard of manager being allowed to quit for any reason and still get a full payout.
Brown resigned on Dec. 6 then rescinded his resignation on Jan. 11 when the board told him they would not honor his severance, citing a state statute and a subsequent 2011 Georgia Supreme Court decision upholding the statute.
An audio recording of the Feb. 23, 2015 regular meeting proves that Brown’s contract renewal that year was discussed by commissioners, received two public comments and was unanimously passed by the board. None of Avondale’s current commissioners were on that 2015 board.
There is no evidence, however, that the severance amendment received any public discourse. But, severance agreements are rarely discussed in a public forum. It remains unknown who wrote the amendment, who came up with the idea for the amendment and who proofread the amendment’s final version.
Though current Commissioners Elmore, Brian Fisher and Adela Yelton, were not on the board in Feb. 2015, they renewed Brown’s contract in 2016 and 2017. All three say they didn’t see the severance amendment until one month ago.
The amendment is signed by city attorney Robert Wilson, who attended Monday’s meeting. But Wilson told the AJC he could not yet comment on details surrounding the amendment or its origins.
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