Wednesday, March 14, 2001
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Wednesday, March 14, 2001 |
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PTC pays departing clerk $30,000 By JOHN MUNFORD In a precedent-setting arrangement, former Peachtree City Clerk Nancy Faulkner has received six months' salary $22,179 as part of a brokered agreement between her and the city as part of her resignation. In addition, the city has agreed to pay her $7,500 for tuition to a paralegal school. The city also will pay an undisclosed amount for her health insurance, city documents show. The financial agreement was approved by Mayor Bob Lenox but was not mentioned by the city last week in a press release announcing Faulkner's resignation. The matter never reached the full five-member council. Faulkner this week said the money a total of $29,679 was not paid to buy her silence. "This is not a monetary payment to make me shut my mouth," Faulkner said. "... I never would have signed anything like that." Faulkner said she offered to resign partially because she felt a lack of job security. She referred to notes of conversations with council members kept by City Manager Jim Basinger dated last year referring to a plan to fire her as city clerk. Overtures from council to change the role of the city clerk also helped Faulkner decide to resign, she said. "They want the clerk to have less communication with council and be more clerical in nature," Faulkner said, adding on the other hand that "... I don't feel like I'm being run off." Faulkner approached City Attorney Rick Lindsey several weeks ago about developing a compensation package for her if she decided to resign, both confirmed. The negotiations were handled through Lindsey and Mayor Bob Lenox, who has the power to make personnel decisions and enter agreements, Lindsey noted. Faulkner did not initiate or conduct the negotiations "in a threatening way," Lindsey said. Although Faulkner approached Lindsey about the compensation package, she said a friend with sources at City Hall had contacted her several weeks before and indicated that the city might be willing to work out such an arrangement. The matter was never brought to council for discussion, although council members were made aware of the mayor's final decision, Lindsey said. Faulkner said she was originally concerned about having insurance coverage after she resigned, and six months insurance coverage for her was built into the resignation agreement. Also, the city agreed to pay up to $7,500 for Faulkner to attend a paralegal school, according to the agreement, which was obtained by The Citizen Tuesday. The agreement also indicates that both Faulkner and the city agree "that neither have any claims or potential claims against the other and both will hold each other harmless from any and all claims." Betsy Tyler, the public information officer for Peachtree City, said in a statement that the "conditions of the package are certainly within the norm in private industry based upon Ms. Faulkner's longevity and position." Tyler also confirmed that the city has not offered a compensation package to other employees in the past. Faulkner, whose last day with the city was Friday, has already begun working at her new job in Fayetteville, which has lower pay and no benefits. But she was pleased that the compensation package will allow her to go to paralegal school, she said, because she is interested in that field. Faulkner said it was difficult for her to leave the city, but she will remain in touch and "won't be totally away." "I loved being city clerk and working as a part of the city's team," she said.
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