After a major shakeup in Indiantown last week, Mike Giardino's contract as the interim village manager has been approved.
Giardino was appointed after the sudden firing of the former village manager, Taryn Kryzda. The village sided a new direction following the August 18th election, which saw three new council members be elected.
Mayor Phyllis Waters-Brown was skeptical about awarding a contract to an interim employee.
"I would like to encourage him to apply for that position, but we put an RFP out. I would like for him to be paid bi-weekly, which I think is standard practice for a probationary period, without the severance, because if he signs a contract, we are obligated to severance," she said. "If he decides next week not that he's going to, or we decide next week not that we're going to, that this is not for him, then we owe him almost 20 weeks of severance pay. He's entitled to insurance, entitled to car or mileage, phone, 401k, and FRS. I would love for it not to be a contract."
Council newcomers Janet Hernandez and Anthony Dowling were in favor of a contract, but did not want Giardino to be entitled to severance.
"I do think that the RFP for the village manager should not be that quick, because we have a lot of things going on," Hernandez said. "I would say we should start talking about that probably in six months until we have everything that's going on right now settled. That's my thinking on that. We scratch out the severance. We keep the contract."
Giardino said that not having severance and having to give two months' notice if another opportunity arises puts him in a difficult spot.
"If severance is off the table and I'm still having to give you 60 days' notice if something were to come up, that's hard. That's hard for a future employer to accept the fact they have to wait two months before I'm allowed to come work," he said.
He asked the council to reduce that notice and also keep severance on the table, but for less than the 20 weeks that's originally outlined in the contract.
"[I ask that] those amount of days, 60 days, be reduced from this contract somewhat. Or if it doesn't work out on your end, if maybe a couple weeks of severance or something just to get me to the next phase of where I got to go.," he said.
The council agreed to reduce it from 60 days to 30 should Giardino decide to leave, as well as provide eight weeks of severance should the council choose another candidate for the permanent position.
Giardino indicated that he has no intention of leaving and will apply for the permanent role once applications open. Dowling agreed with waiting a few months before an RFP is put out for applications.
"I'm okay with six months. Maybe start the RFP process in February whenever it's six months from now. That'll get, I think, everybody time to get settled in and figure out all what's happening," he said.
Giardino was formerly the city manager for Stuart but was unexpectedly fired without cause just a few months into his tenure.
He will earn a $163,900 salary as the Indiantown village manager.