Windsor paid outgoing town managers $200,000-plus in resignation agreements

Windsor paid more than $200,000 in severance agreements to cut ties with its top two administrators not long after town employees called for changes in leadership, according to documents released by the town in response to a public records request.

Citing 'a dramatic decline in a collaborative working environment' and a 'lack of leadership accountability' over the past 2 1/2 years, representatives of the local Teamsters union, management and supervisory groups submitted a letter to the Town Council in late October seeking assistance from elected officials. They sought help resolving outstanding personnel issues and improving the organization's culture from an ongoing communication breakdown between employees and the town's executive team.

'The shift in the morale has had a negative ripple effect within the organization and has seeped through to the community with potential lasting consequences,' reads the Oct. 26 letter, signed by wastewater treatment operator and union steward Heath Blackwell, supervisory group president Jenny Alton and town administrative operations manager Kristina Owens, who is also president of the management employees group.

'Without integrity, we lose community and peer respect. Without professionalism, we fail to foster positive working relationships,' the letter stated.

Owens declined to comment further when reached by phone Monday. Messages on phone numbers listed for Blackwell and Alton went unreturned.

On Nov. 19 assistant town manager Camille Kazarian submitted her resignation, effective immediately. Kazarian, 40, had spent five years with the town — much of it as its second-in-command and focused on its finances. The severance agreement, signed Nov. 29, granted her three months of her most recent salary. The sum would have been roughly $36,000 if it had been based on her 2016 pay of $144,746, according to Transparent California.

James Leon, Windsor's human resources director, could not offer Kazarian's updated salary information Monday while away from the office. He also could not explain whether Kazarian provided two weeks' notice before resigning, stating that was between her and her boss, then-town manager John Jansons.

Kazarian's severance agreement also requires she refer all inquiries about her tenure with Windsor back to the town's human resources department. A message left for her at Summit State Bank, where she serves as executive vice president and chief financial officer of the Santa Rosa bank, went unreturned. Jansons hung up when reached by phone for comment Monday.

Jansons, 54, meanwhile, was in the midst of an extended performance review process undertaken by the Town Council that started in August. What began as a standard assessment at his six-month mark stretched into eight closed-door sessions at council meetings and eventually led to the separation agreement signed by Jansons, then-Mayor Bruce Okrepkie and town attorney Robin Donoghue on Nov. 28.

In return, Jansons received nine months of his $190,000 annual salary, plus benefits — a financial package worth $168,241. In December, longtime Councilman Sam Salmon incorrectly stated the severance agreement amounted to six month's salary, citing the terms in Jansons' original contract.

In addition, for completing 13 months in the post on Dec. 6, Jansons received his final paycheck of $39,504 and the town's commitment it would not contest unemployment benefits should he apply for them.

Okrepkie, now in his role as a councilman on the Town Council, declined Monday to describe how the town settled on a nine-month severance agreement with Jansons, citing protections under closed-door sessions. A message left for Mayor Dominic Foppoli, who served as vice mayor during the severance negotiations, went unreturned.

Leon said he was involved in some but not all of those sessions, and all negotiations happened behind closed doors. Ultimately, he said, the council decided how much to provide Jansons in his amicable departure.

'As a body, the council accepted it,' Salmon said of Jansons' resignation. 'That was all a little sudden. This came pretty quickly and the town was going one step at a time with the interim manager, and we've got quite a bit on our plate right now.'

The town is still in the midst of deciding how to respond to the threat of a lawsuit from a Southern California attorney who wants Windsor to shift from an at-large election system for council seats to one that is district-based. The town and its council are also nearing review of several large-scale residential development projects that total hundreds of housing units.

To help manage both, the council appointed the town's community development director, Ken MacNab, to the role of interim town manager on Dec. 5 at a pay rate of $16,447 per month, or the equivalent of $197,364 in annual compensation. The assistant town manager job, which Kazarian filled while also serving as the town's administrative services director, has been split back into two positions, Leon confirmed. Each is slated to be filled in the coming months.

You can reach Staff Writer Kevin Fixler at 707-521-5336 or kevin.fixler@pressdemocrat.com. on Twitter @kfixler.