New county CEO contract includes signing bonus and severance provision
A severance package and $10,000 signing bonus were needed features of the contract for the new Spokane County CEO because of the demands of the office, Spokane County Commissioner Todd Mielke said.
“We have a very small board, and it’s a political board,” Mielke said.
Gerry Gemmill will become the county’s top executive with a contact that includes severance terms guaranteeing his pay through 2019, a lengthier grace period than most other similarly situated officials in the area, Mielke said.
Commissioner Al French elected not to sign Gemmill’s contract and said shortly after it was signed that it was unlike any other public employee contract in the state of Washington.
Before the contract was drafted, county staff looked at the comparable benefits for officials that included Susan Meyer, executive director at the Spokane Transit Authority; Larry Krauter, chief executive of the Spokane International Airport Board; and Mike Jackson, city manager of Spokane Valley.
Mielke said Gemmill’s contract was constructed to compete with those positions but also acknowledged the differences in working for Spokane County. The signing bonus was added because executives in the county – including Gemmill’s predecessor, Marshall Farnell – went years without a performance-based raise.
“When you look at (other executives’) total packages, Gerry’s total compensation comes in below them, after the initial signing bonus,” Mielke said.
Meyer and Jackson are paid less than Gemmill’s base salary, but STA has promised an annual adjustment to Meyer’s contract based on a cost-of-living increase, and Jackson’s severance is guaranteed unless he’s convicted of a felony. Gemmill loses his severance if he resigns.
Gemmill’s severance package is longer than any of the other executives the county examined in determining a fair contract. But his retirement benefits are less than Meyer’s and Jackson’s.
Mielke said that was by design for the initial few years, so that anyone who entered office could not fire Gemmill on a whim if the Spokane County Commission changes membership after the next election cycle.
“Everyone I approached about this position, they all said they wanted a chance both to prove themselves and be successful,” Mielke said.