Friday, July 18, 2003 | 11:09 a.m.
About a week before firing North Las Vegas City Manager Kurt Fritsch, the City Council turned down an offer from Fritsch to resign in return for a more expensive severance package, city officials said Thursday.
Mayor Michael Montandon said the offer had Fritsch staying on the job for more than 90 days plus receiving severance pay. He said he could not remember the specifics of the offer because it was never put into writing. The offer from Fritsch was relayed to elected officials by City Attorney Sean McGowan.
Montandon said he didn't like the offer because it would have had Fritsch resign too far into the future.
"He wanted to stick around for too much time," Montandon said.
City Councilman Robert Eliason, who made the motion Wednesday that Fritsch's contract be terminated immediately, also said he could not remember all of the details of the offer. But he said it was more expensive than the alternative.
"I didn't want Kurt to be fired," Eliason said. "We tried to work something out. But this was a business decision."
Because the council fired Fritsch before the end of his contract, the ousted city manager will receive half of his $150,000 annual salary, plus pay for any accrued vacation days and half of his unused sick days.
The council never countered Fritsch's offer, Montandon, Eliason and Fritsch said.
Fritsch would not divulge the details of his resignation offer.
Fritsch said he made the offer at the request of McGowan, who then relayed it to the council. McGowan did not return telephone messages left at his office Thursday.
The council voted unanimously and without discussion Wednesday to fire Fritsch, who had been city manager since July 2000 and received a $10,000 raise and three-year contract extension from the same council members a year ago.
Council members did not explain their votes during the Wednesday meeting and skipped a closed-door session in which Fritsch's job performance was to be discussed.
Montandon said he decided to call for a vote on Fritsch's tenure with the city because if the council had gone into a closed-session to discuss Fritsch, it would have delayed his departure by a couple of weeks.
The mayor said Fritsch's contract calls for the council to return written comments to Fritsch on his evaluation two weeks after an evaluation. By not doing an evaluation, the council avoided that requirement, he said.
Montandon said he did not discuss firing Fritsch with other council members, but because of comments Fritsch made that he felt his job was in jeopardy, the mayor felt there might be support for firing him.
Because of the abrupt motion and unanimous vote without discussion, some had wondered whether council members had discussed Fritsch's tenure before the meeting, which could have violated the state's Open Meetings Law.
Tina Leiss, a senior deputy attorney general, who would talk specifically about the case said in general that a 2001 amendment to the law allows public bodies to meet individually or as a whole with their attorney to discuss matters that could become the subject of lawsuits.
"It's an exception to the definition of a meeting," she said.
Other council members have also said they did not discuss firing Fritsch with each other prior to the Wednesday vote.
Since the vote, the mayor and council members haven't been specific about what problems they had with Fritsch, saying only they wanted to go in a different direction and had a difference in philosophies.
Montandon said Fritsch wasn't able to keep up with both the demands of dealing with a five-member council and the vision and forward thinking needed to lead the fast-growing city.
Fritsch had predicted his termination more than three weeks ago, when he told staff that some council members were trying to oust him. He later said Councilwoman Shari Buck wanted him out because she wanted more power.
Eliason said he was shocked by Fritsch's comments and said he wasn't sure if he would have voted to fire Fritsch on Wednesday if Fritsch had never made those comments three weeks ago.
"It was not a very professional move. It sure didn't help his cause," Eliason said.
Fritsch said the only surprise for him was how the council handled the separation. He said he expected they would negotiate for his resignation. To voted him out during a meeting was "very unprofessional" of the council, Fritsch said.
The city manager, who headed the day-to-day operations of the city during times of great growth, said he was proud of his work. He said he will take some time off now before probably returning to government work.
Fritsch said he hasn't decided whether he will sue the city over his termination. After the Wednesday vote, Fritsch questioned whether the council had followed proper procedure in firing him.
McGowan said the council was acting properly.
With Fritsch out the top administrative duties have fallen to Assistant City Managers Gregory Rose and Dan Tarwater.
Montandon, Eliason, Smith and Councilwoman Shari Buck said Rose, who is the senior assistant city manager, will probably be appointed as interim city manager on Aug. 6.
Council members said they still need to discuss exactly how they will go about hiring a new city manager.
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