Daily Sitka Sentinel

City, Dinley Sign Off On Resignation Terms

Jim Dinley (Sentinel Photo)

By SHANNON HAUGLAND
Sentinel Staff Writer
    After meeting behind closed doors for an hour to approve a severance package, the Assembly voted Wednesday night to accept the resignation of Jim Dinley as city administrator.
    The motion was approved without objection by Assembly members Phyllis Hackett, Thor Christianson, Matthew Hunter, Pete Esquiro and Mayor Mim McConnell.
    Mike Reif and Michelle Putz participated in the executive session by phone but were unavailable later for the vote in open session.
    Under terms of the resignation, which is effective immediately, Dinley received a check for $72,744.68, a payment based on 120 days of salary and benefits. His most recent salary was $122,408.
    “City and employee acknowledge and agree that City has elected not to terminate Employee’s employment with city, and instead has accepted Employee’s resignation to be made effective upon acceptance and execution of this agreement by the City,” stated a document titled “Severance Agreement with Mutual Release of Claims,” which both McConnell and Dinley signed today.
    Assembly members praised Dinley for his work, but said it was time for a change.
    “It had to happen,” Christianson said in an interview after the meeting. “We could’ve done it better but it had to happen. Now we need to look forward and go out and get a new administrator.”
    He said the departure of Dinley has been coming for a few years. Christianson was elected to his current term in 2011, after the previous Assembly had given Dinley a favorable job rating and renewed his contract for another three years with a raise in pay.
    “I think there has been some who haven’t been real happy with things he’s done in his administration and the number of voices has been increasing for a number of years,” Christianson said Wednesday. He said he probably had the most problems with Dinley’s “personal style and professional issues,” and believes that the relationship between the city and other entities could be stronger.
    McConnell and Christianson said that the Assembly’s recent disciplinary action against Dinley, related to a “personnel complaint” was unrelated to the Assembly’s decision to seek his resignation.
    Dinley’s two-week suspension without pay ended the day before the Assembly voted on April 16 to rate his job performance as “unsatisfactory.”
    The Assembly did not release the reasons for the low evaluation.
    The Assembly’s acceptance of the resignation “had very little to do with his recent suspension,” Christianson said. “It probably would’ve happened anyway. We had to do what we had to do.”
    McConnell said the Assembly changes with every election, and philosophies also change from year to year.
    “At some point the people who chose Dinley to be administrator, most of them, have come and gone,” she said.
    Assembly members, in wishing Dinley well before voting Wednesday, told Dinley Wednesday night that they respected him as a person, and for his honesty and integrity. They said he had done a good job with the budget every year.
    “I respect you as an individual, I trust you,” Hunter said.
    Christianson agreed, and said it’s rare for an administrator to last more than three years on the job. “I appreciate all the work you’ve done,” he said.
    Hackett said she had learned from Dinley, and thanked him for his straightforward and honest manner, and his helpfulness.
    “We’ll continue to have our woes, but we’re in pretty good shape because of what you’ve done,” she said. “I appreciate you’re leaving us in this way. We’re in better shape than we have been.”
    Esquiro said he appreciated the many great conversations he’s had with Dinley about “how to make Sitka a better place.”
    “You did the job that needed to be done when you first came here, and you took the bull by the horns,” Esquiro said. “Things change as we move along. It’s time for a little bit of a change. I do respect your integrity and honesty and I wish you all the best.”
    Dinley nodded and thanked them for their comments. He said he didn’t want to say anything to the public until he picked up his check, and signed the agreement, which happened today.
    The Assembly is scheduled to review the general fund budget at 6 p.m. today, the first of three work sessions on the 2013-14 draft budget. McConnell said she has no doubt that the Assembly will be ready and able to move ahead, without Dinley, who has guided the budget process for the past five budget cycles.
    “I’m confident things will roll along fairly well,” the mayor said.
    McConnell said today that the Assembly has settled on Finance Director Jay Sweeney to be Interim Administrator until a new administrator is hired.
    McConnell said the Assembly will meet with Human Resources Director Mark Danielson to start work on finding a replacement for Dinley.
    Dinley, who is now 74, was hired as administrator in February 2008 following the forced resignation of John Stein. Dinley came to Sitka from Georgia, where he had been city manager for the small towns of Fort Oglethorpe, Colquitt and Sylvester, following his retirement from a 30-year career with the U.S. Air Force.