ADRIAN — The Adrian City Commission voted 6-1 on Feb. 3 to approve the terms of a separation agreement between the city and former city administrator Greg Elliott.

Under the agreement, which largely echoes terms laid out in Elliott’s contract, the city will pay him six months’ salary. His salary had been $151,605 per year for the city administrator role, plus an additional $20,000 for continuing to serve as community development director, the job he held before being hired as administrator in 2020, making the total payout upon separation approximately $85,800.

Elliott’s employment contract states: “In the event that the City Commission exercises its right to terminate the employment of the Executive without cause and the Executive is willing and able to perform the duties of the City Administrator, the City shall provide the Executive with salary, retirement contributions, and health and life insurance benefits for a period of time as outlined herein.” The period of time was capped at six months, and Elliott had been with the city for long enough to reach that cap.

Mayor Angela Sword Heath represented the city in negotiating the agreement last week. Both the city and Elliott agreed to a few changes from the terms outlined in the contract. The city agreed to waive a clause that would have allowed it to stop paying Elliott’s salary if he obtained other employment within six months. At the same time, Elliott agreed to waive the insurance provisions of the contract, meaning that the city does not have to keep paying insurance premiums for those six months.

Elliott was hired as community development director in 2019 and promoted to city administrator in 2020.

The dissenting vote on the agreement was cast by commissioner Gordon Gauss.

The agreement generated little discussion among commissioners at the Feb. 3 meeting, but during the public comment portions of the meeting, Adrian residents Don Taylor and Tim Allshouse both spoke to criticize the fact that the agreement was not made public before the commission voted on it.

Heath said that as a negotiated agreement, the deal was subject to attorney-client privilege until it was ratified.

Also during the public comment period, former Mayor Jim Berryman praised Elliott, saying that he had always felt Elliott was fair and had Adrian’s best interests at heart. He said that asking someone to take on the administrator’s job, which often involves needing to move their family, is asking a big commitment of that person. “Far too often in the recent past, we’ve felt it too easy to walk away from a commitment to an administrator,” he said.

Heath said a plan for finding the next city administrator will be discussed at the Feb. 17 commission meeting.

Also on Feb. 3, the city commission unanimously approved naming police chief Vince Emrick as acting city administrator. Emrick spoke briefly about the actions he has been taking to make it possible for him to serve in both roles temporarily, which include delegating some police responsibilities to deputy chief Laurence Van Alstine.

“It’s a big task,” Emrick said. But he also noted that this will be his fourth time filling in as interim city administrator, so “it’s not as daunting as it once was.”