Norfolk City Council approves Andy Colvin's transition to a Strategic Development Consultant
NORFOLK, Neb. -- After a two-hour closed session, the Norfolk City Council resolved the transition of Andy Colvin from city administrator to a special independent contractor and consultant.
The council has now laid out the details for the public, providing clarity on why they approved his departure into this new role.
The City of Norfolk has a little over 200 employees and out of those 200 employees, there are five employees who are appointed by the mayor and confirmed by the city council.
Colvin, the City Administrator is one of those five. In a situation where the city administrator has a written contract, 200 or more of those employees are governed by the policies and everything from the City of Norfolk.
Brogan said that when the contract is reviewed they're looking at a consulting agreement. The first component of the title of consulting agreement is that they're moving Colvin from an employee of the City of Norfolk to him as an independent contractor, who has a contract for consulting purposes back to the city. So he's no longer an employee of the city.
“I also want to point out, it does have a connotation that there's been a resolution or a settlement or something like that,” said Brogan. “I can tell you that that's not the case. I know everybody wants to assume that there's been misconduct or things of that nature, but I can tell you that is not the case. Under Calvin’s existing employment agreement, there was a concern regarding the finances. When we wrote the consultant agreement, what we tried to do was take the compensation component and the dollars in benefits and move them from that of the employment agreement over into the consulting agreement. But can we do it the same? The answer is no, because you heard me say earlier, he's an employee on this hand and he's moving over to an independent, independent contractor who's not going to get city employee benefits and things of that nature. So we have to start equating those things. Some people might say, listen, Mayor, why don't you just buck up since he's one of the appointments like others and decide in June because appointments this year happen in the first meeting on June 2, 2025. So why don't you just wait and just not reappoint? Well, again, this isn't the situation where we're trying to get rid of Andy, so to speak.”
According to the existing employment agreement, if Colvin doesn't get reappointed or he's let go, he's entitled to a six month severance package plus benefits.
“There is a reason why the consulting agreement is six months long,” said Brogan. “You, the council, whether you let him go because you don't want him anymore or you agree with this, it's still going to be six months. So we start looking at dollars and cents. And so when we were back in the back room, we're trying to get this squared up as we possibly can.”
The total amount of compensation for a six month severance from June 2 plus other benefits to Dec. 2, 2025 would equate to roughly $266,000.
“What I'm going to propose with you was a slight amendment to this,” said Brogan. “Under the terms of the consulting agreement, basically the total compensation would be roughly $213,000. So there is a savings one way or the other. Yes, there will be an increased cost, an additional stipend that you're going to have to pay your interim. You know, if the interim is appointed for a period of time. Yes, they are in-house, but you're going to pay a lot more. That's not in here, but that's available. That is an extra cost."
Although he is not exactly leaving, Colvin expressed his gratitude to those who have always stood behind his decisions.
“There's been a lot of hard work done in this community for a lot of people, I think, to bring a lot of success in this community and a lot of new ideas, it takes a lot of risk,” Colvin said.
“You know, I'll always defer and give a lot of kudos to the city staff and also the elected officials that have done a tremendous amount of work in policy, and the projects they have accomplished," he said. "So, it’s been great and I appreciate all the graciousness that everyone’s extended. So, it’s been great and thank you."