City manager terminated without cause before election
Councilmember asks for investigation, questions if procedures were followed
City Manager Michael Ilczyszyn was terminated without cause as of 11:59 p.m. Monday, and Assistant to the City Manager Maureen Buice was appointed to the interim position by the Cape Coral City Council.
The motion was made by Mayor John Gunter during reports at the end of the meeting, which was held a day before the General Election in which four of eight city council seats would be filled by voters.
“Sometimes it is time for some good things to come to an end. I know with us leaving, some will say that and some will not. The community, I think, has articulated through this election process what they are looking for. I would like to pass the gavel to terminate the city manager’s contract without cause at 11:59 p.m. tonight,” he said.
Gunter lost his re-election bid in the primary with mayoral candidates Lisa Cohen-Adkinson and Richard Erickson advancing to the Nov. 3 election in an initial six-candidate race for the seat.
Councilmember Rachel Kaduk was the first to ask why Gunter was calling for the termination. She said he gets paid handsomely to stand in the fire and she was not in favor of leaving the city high and dry.
“Through the election process, I think, residents have spoken and that is why I made the motion,” Gunter said.
Councilmember Keith Long said the motion was not how council should be doing business in the last material meeting of the term.
“What the hell? What are we doing here? At the very least, this is something the next council can take up,” he said at 8:45 p.m. “I can’t believe this is where we are at with no discussion.”
Long also said “this stinks to high hell” and that everybody was expecting the motion except him.
An attorney, Long asked what the ramifications of a “without cause” termination would be.
City Attorney Aleksandr Boksner said Ilczyszyn would be entitled to a severance package that would consist of four months’ salary in a lump sum payment.
Ilczyszyn’s contractual severance should be approximately $112,000, plus payment for accrued, unused annual leave, city officials said in response to a Breeze email. As of Wednesday afternoon, it has not been paid.
Kaduk, Long and Councilmember Jennifer Nelson-Lastra walked out of the meeting before the vote; Councilmember Laurie Lehmann dissented.
“I cannot support that. I don’t want to see the city left high and dry. It is something the new council needs to decide. We are talking 8:48 the day before election,” Lehmann said.
Kaduk said she left to stop the vote.
“I left the meeting and YELLED to the rest of Council, if there isn’t a Quorum, they cannot legally vote!,” she said via email in response to a question from The Breeze as to why she left.
“It seems Council Member Long heard me.”
Kaduk followed up Tuesday with a pair of emails to Boksner and asked for an investigation into Ilczyszyn’s termination, saying it did not follow the city’s step-by-step procedures for a termination.
“5.02 was not followed,” she wrote, referring to the city’s provision for removal that outlines the process and defines what constitutes a quorum for the action.
“Please explain how this was legally allowed.
“Daisy Chaining should be investigated immediately. The video speaks for itself,” Kaduk wrote.
It was not her first email on the 4-1 vote to terminate Ilczyszyn’s employment contract.
“As you may have realized, ALL members of City Council were not present,” Kaduk wrote in an email to Boksner sent at 1:28 a.m.
In response, Boksner told her to reach out to the State Attorney’s Office, she said Wednesday.
Those who voted for the motion to terminate were Gunter and Councilmembers Bill Steinke, Dr. Derrick Donnell and Joe Kilraine.
“This role that I have served in for four years, I have recognized requires a tremendous amount of teamwork, common goal, common strategic plan, all behind and coordination with governance and implementation that requires staff,” Steinke said. “With tremendous amount of controversy around a variety of issues, I have witnessed the city manager take the fall or attempt to run under the bus on many things that were on many cases based on misinformation, manufactured information. There has been tremendous discussion around lack of trust, lack of confidence, and the defense of the city manager has not always been there.”
He said with certainty none of them have been deaf to campaign promises and discussions and what could come as a result of the elections to be decided Tuesday.
“I am sad to see it happen. I have noticed a tremendous amount of stress exhibited by the city manager in an effort to try to please as many people” as he could, Steinke said.
Steinke and Long had opted not to run for re-election.
Donnell said with a heavy heart, he would support the motion.
“I love our city manager,” he said, adding that he did not sleep the previous night because he knew this day would be coming. “I will be supporting it as heavyhearted as it is for me.”
Kilraine was also reluctant to support the motion. But with the environment the city is in, he said he could anticipate what was going to happen with the new council with so many backgrounds and comments made during the campaigning.
There would be at least three new faces on the city council as a result of the election — the only incumbent running was Nelson-Lastra.
After Long, Kaduk and Nelson-Lastra left the dais, the remaining council members voted to give Buice $290,000, which is 10% above $261,000 — what the current assistant city managers make — then rounded up.
All but Donnell voted to make Buice the interim city manager, as he believed one of the two sitting assistant city managers would be a better fit.
Kilraine recommended Buice.
“Two assistant city managers are in place right now for a division of work,” Steinke said. “I would tend to keep assistants in place working with the departments each one is in charge of and have a third party equal to the task, I believe in that transition period, is Maureen Buice. She is certainly a qualified candidate for the interim.”
Gunter agreed that choosing someone who would be the least disruptive to the system would be best.
“As we know, Ms. Buice has been working side-by-side with the city manager. She knows the inner workings. She has worked the closest with the city manager over the last couple of years,” he said.
Although Ilczyszyn walked out before the discussion ended, Gunter thanked him for all of his work and dedication, as he has been a part of the city for more than 20 years.
“I wish him well in his future endeavors,” he said.
To reach MEGHAN BRADBURY, please email mbradbury@breezenewspapers.com