Brooksville Council Ratifies Kuhn Contract

Members of the Brooksville City Council voted unanimously to approve the contract connected to Charlene Kuhn’s appointment as city manager for the City of Brooksville. The approval vote took place during the panel’s regular meeting on Oct. 2.

Under the contract, the base salary for the city manager post is $106,030.00, payable in installments at the same time that the other management employees of the Employer are paid. It will be amended according to any salary adjustments required by the City of Brooksville’s compensation policies and will be reviewed for a merit-based pay increase every year.

The contract agreement is standard for similar positions in the state, according to City Attorney Betsy Vose. “It’s the same as the agreement that Ronald Snowberger had when he started,” she said. “This is a very standard contract that’s used throughout the state – there’s nothing weird in it at all.”

Even so, Council Member Casey Thieryung questioned the portion of the contract that deals with severance should the city manager be fired by the council while the document is in force.

According to the contract, if she were to be terminated during the first 90 days of employment the city manager would receive four-weeks as severance pay from the City of Brooksville After that severance for between 91 and 180 days of employment would consist of eight weeks’ salary; 12 weeks salary for between 181 and 270 days of employment; 16 weeks salary after 271 days of employment and 20 weeks salary after 2 years of employment.

“This is nothing against Charlene, this is something I was thinking when Ron (Snowberger) came up; it’s something that came up when Mark Kutney came up – it’s standard in all contracts I just never thought it made sense,” Thieryung said. “Just the idea that someone’s making $100,000 a year should be able to have an emergency fund if they potentially get fired by the five of us.”

Mayor Blake Bell agreed. “But it’s typical language though – not just for municipal government but all executive positions,” he said. Ultimately, Thieryung made a motion to approve the contract. Council Member Thomas Bronson seconded it. Finally, the Council approved the contract by a vote of 5-0.

In a surprise decision, the Brooksville City Council voted last month unanimously to name Charlene Kuhn city manager for the City of Brooksville after serving as interim city manager following the Aug. 15 retirement of Ron Snowberger.

The term of Kuhn’s contract was entered into after the Council’s Oct. 2 approval, was made retroactive to Sept. 18, 2023 and will remain in place until it is terminated by The City of Brooksville or Kuhn.