Pleasanton council extends city manager’s severance package in contract update

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The Pleasanton City Council approved an amendment to City Manager Gerry Beaudin’s employment contract on Tuesday to extend his severance package from six months to 12 months, with the caveat that he would not get that package if he is fired for felonious reasons.

After a contentious public comment period and discussion from the council, all except Councilmember Jack Balch agreed that giving Beaudin the additional six months in severance pay is the right thing to do despite many residents calling for the council to postpone the vote until the two newly elected council members take office.

“He has given 110% to this city,” Vice Mayor Julie Testa said during the Dec. 3 meeting. “Suggesting that people who have never worked with him should be making this decision, I disagree.”

On Nov. 19, the council was set to approve the update to Beaudin’s severance package as part of the consent calendar, which are items considered routine in nature and are typically approved by a single vote. However, the item was continued by Balch to the next meeting after the topic seemed to polarize the community when it was initially made public.

At the heart of the discourse was a shared sentiment from some residents that because the current City Council hired Beaudin — and conducted his employee performance evaluation this past July — they should have postponed the vote until the new council takes over in a few weeks.

But the reasons why this handful of residents did not agree with the contract amendment slightly differed.

Pleasanton resident Jan Batcheller said she has followed Pleasanton city government for many years and that she was astonished to see the severance item on the consent calendar during the last council meeting.

“Doubling the severance pay of the city manager is not routine in nature, in my opinion,” Batcheller said. 

She said with all of the recent talks about future budget challenges, the conversation should be about tightening the belt on the budget and that she does not think the city had enough of a justification to move forward with the severance bump.

“The contract must be looked at in its entirety,” Batcheller said. “Why is this even a topic at this time? This item benefits one person.”

She continued, “The City Council is elected to serve the citizens of Pleasanton and oversee city staff actions. It seems like this council majority has been serving city staff at the expense of its citizens.”

The other core issue felt by folks who agreed with Batcheller was that if the council decides to fire Beaudin without cause for whatever reason, then it would cost the city more money because they would be paying his salary, medical and dental insurance will be covered for a full year.

“Just because other city managers get 12 months severance, it is not a good enough rationale,” Pleasanton resident Vin Pohray said.

He said while he understood that the city couldn’t raise Beaudin’s salary due to the city’s current economic challenges — the council also noted Beaudin gave up a potential salary increase because he understood the city’s financial situation — another six months of severance is the “equivalent of almost a 50% salary increase,” just over a longer period of time.

“Instead of paying a person upfront, it feels like it’s just being springloaded to trap us in the back end and snap shut,” Pohray said. “It is not a good practice.”

That was a similar reason for Balch voting no on the contract amendment.

Balch said he was comfortable with the contract as it was with six months of severance pay and that he wasn’t able to support the amendment because “as an employer myself I generally prefer, as a matter of course, to pay for the services being rendered when they are rendered.”

“It is a benefit to the employee, which is why it is asked for,” Balch said. “It potentially has a cost and that should not be ignored.”

On the other hand, several residents defended Beaudin and argued that all the work he has done since he was first hired in April 2022 justifies his severance package bump.

“Gerry is working steadily to set us on a corrective (path). That has not happened in the past,” Pleasanton resident Linda Garbarino said during the Dec. 3 meeting.

She said Beaudin not only inherited a difficult job, but he also identified other longstanding issues that have been affecting the city, which is why the city needs him moving forward.

“He’s brought light to our council and shone that light on these issues,” Garbarino said.

Pleasanton Cultural Arts Council president Kelly Cousins also came to Beaudin’s defense and reiterated what Garbarino previously said about the severance item not being an eminent expenditure.

“It will not cost the city any additional funds to have this clause added to his contract,” Cousins said.

The council majority also hammered down the same point and that Beaudin’s excellent performance as a city manager over the past few years combined with his knowledge of the city is something that should be rewarded.

Councilmember Valerie Arkin also doubled down on why she thought it was appropriate to have the current City Council vote on the matter.

“The reason this council is voting on this is because we did his evaluation, we’ve been working with him,” she said. “A new council, with all due respect … haven’t been working with him.”

She also noted that Beaudin’s salary is 7% less than the average salary mean compared to other Bay Area cities and that even the assistant superintendents at the Pleasanton Unified School District have 12 months of severance pay. She expressed that the least Pleasanton can do to retain Beaudin in his role is make his severance pay aligned with neighboring cities like Dublin and Livermore.

Councilmember Jeff Nibert also made the point that as long as Beaudin isn’t fired due to criminal conduct, which is outlined in the contract, the city wouldn’t have to worry about any additional costs.

“Increasing the severance for an additional six months is not putting the city on the hook for any payment as long as everyone behaves themselves,” Nibert said.

Mayor Karla Brown also supported the severance package update mainly because of the fluidity of the city manager position.

“If those new people do not feel he is the right person for the job … he can be removed and unemployed tomorrow,” Brown said. 

She also defended Beaudin after seeing “lies” spread throughout the internet. 

“He’s also been subjected to some horrible lies on the internet that quite honestly, he’s had to tolerate,” Brown said. “If anyone here in the audience is part of that, shame on you.”

She said Beaudin has been working hard for Pleasanton and that they need to do everything they can to keep an expert like Beaudin employed at the city.

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