RECENT COVERAGE:
» Huber Heights considers $15,000 settlement for city manager
» Next council will decide city manager residency issue
» Huber Heights manager will establish residency under new deal
The length of the contract is five years. Schommer became city manager in 2014. He will maintain a $141,060 annual salary.
Schommer said in a statement he is “honored … to recommit my service to the community” and looks forward to working with “a professional council and dedicated group of employees to provide the services the community expects and deserves.”
Councilmembers Mark Campbell, Nancy Byrge, Seth Morgan, Andy Hill, and Ed Lyons voted for the contract. Councilmembers Glenn Otto, Janell Smith, and Richard Shaw voted against Schommer’s new contract during a Monday night city council meeting.
Late last year, council hammered out the contract for Schommer with a plan to get him a residence inside the city following extended controversy over him living outside city limits. The city charter, written in the 1980s, requires the city manager to live in the city, but Ohio’s legislature has passed, and courts have upheld, law prohibiting cities from enacting and enforcing residency requirements.
Under the original proposal, Schommer would have received a lump sum of $15,000 after signing. One year later, he would have then received $1,000 per month for two years. If Schommer didn’t follow the residency portions of the contract, he would have been allowed to keep half the payment and required to return the other half in a lump sum.
Under the contract approved Monday, Schommer has no residency requirements. He will be paid $15,000 for “release of any and all previous claims,” said Gerald McDonald, city attorney.
The nature of Schommer’s claims against the city are not immediately clear outside a July letter from his attorney to the city law director stating, among other things, that Smith engaged in “extreme and out of control behavior.” Smith denied the claims in an interview with the Dayton Daily News.
MORE: Huber Heights medical marijuana fight not finished yet
Council additionally enacted legislation prohibiting medical marijuana cultivators, processors, and retail dispensaries. Councilmembers Andy Hill, Otto, Smith, and Shaw voted no, forcing Gore to break a tie in favor of the legislation. Gore also broke a tie to name Councilman Ed Lyons as vice mayor.
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