79-Year Old CM Has Unique Contract Language | 8/17/2026

A city in California is looking for their 11th city manager since mid-2021. A 79-year old city manager in Florida has some unique provisions in his contract.

A city in Florida has voted 3-2 to walk back its initial plan to fire their city manager for cause and are seeking to negotiate a separation. And two cities in Washington have reached a settlement after a court ruled they wrongfully withheld Flock footage in response to public records requests.

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This one has been simmering for a while and it looks like the Colin Kennedy era in Newport is finally coming to an end.

The City Council placed Kennedy on paid administrative leave Saturday and also voted not to renew his contract when it expires in July 2027. That action came after the council held its third executive session in a little more than a month to discuss his job performance, employment and legal claims against the city.

And there is potentially a lot of money at stake.

Newport Buzz reports that Kennedy is seeking more than $450,000 — roughly two years of salary — as part of an exit from City Hall. The city has acknowledged receiving multiple communications asserting or threatening legal claims, including allegations involving a hostile work environment.

Kennedy’s tenure has not exactly been quiet. There have been fights over the budget, sewer billing, parking, traffic cameras and other issues.

Many notable aspects to the announcement that Riviera Beach was hiring Bill Wilkins, the 79-year old veteran, to be their city manager.

They eschewed a national search to bring back Wilkins who has already served two stints as their city manager and been fired once. Some council members put the expected cost of his one year contract at well over $400,000.

The interesting provisions seem to center around his age which is definitely on the high side for the profession.

Here is another reminder that once the relationship between the professional manager and the elected leadership completely breaks down, it is awfully hard to put Humpty Dumpty back together again.

Woodhaven City Administrator Jeff Harris has submitted his resignation after nearly two decades with the city, accusing Mayor Patricia Odette of retaliation and saying communication between the two had essentially collapsed. His resignation is effective Aug. 19.

Harris says the mayor had not spoken with him since April 1 despite an ordinance that requires the administrator and mayor to work closely together on city operations. He also criticized the way an independent investigation involving allegations against both him and the mayor was handled.

The mayor, through her attorney, categorically denies retaliating against Harris.

City managers can survive a lot of disagreement with elected officials. It is much harder to survive when people stop talking to each other.

We talked about High Springs earlier this month when commissioners were moving toward firing City Manager Jeremy Marshall.

Now the story has taken another turn. The commission voted 3-2 Thursday not to proceed with a for-cause termination and instead gave the city two weeks to negotiate a settlement that would end Marshall’s employment without cause.

Mayor Andrew Miller and Commissioner Tristan Grunder dissented on the settlement negotiations. Miller said every time he’d come to the office, he’d dealt with the same problems of Marshall being difficult to work with.

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