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ESCANABA --The Escanaba City Council will soon begin searching for a new city manager following the resignation of City Manager Patrick Jordan, which was announced during the council’s meeting Thursday.
Jordan was not present at the meeting, but Mayor Mark Ammel read from the letter emailed to him and Mayor Pro-Tem Karen Moore Wednesday morning.
“I have received a job offer from another community and accepted. My time with the city of Escanaba will end Nov. 27. Cathy and I are thankful and have truly loved making Escanaba our home for five and a half years and have enjoyed serving the residents of Escanaba. We wish Escanaba well and will miss the friends we’ve made. We believe we followed God’s direction when we came to Escanaba and we will continue to remember this community in prayer,” read the letter, signed “Patrick Jordan, city manager.”
The council made no comments about the resignation itself, but after accepting the letter, unanimously voted to appoint City Assessor Jim McNeil as the interim city manager.
“There were a few others that I didn’t have an opportunity to reach out to, but I think Jim would be a very good candidate at this point,” said Council Member Ron Beauchamp.
On Oct. 18, the Ionia County Board of Commissioners approved an employment agreement with Jordan. He is being offered a one-year contract, which at the time of the vote was slated to begin Nov. 21, and can be extended up to three years. He will be paid a salary of $115,000, which will be increased to $117,500 after six months of employment under the proposed contract.
The offer came at a time when Jordan was under pressure from the city council to accept a new contract that would have cut his salary from $148,975 to $100,000. Jordan repeatedly told the council he would not accept changes to his contract and that the council could fire him outright, pay him the severance outlined in his existing contract, and renegotiate if the council still wanted to keep him.
Unwilling to terminate Jordan’s existing contract, the city manager and the council were at a stalemate. Jordan indicated he had hired an attorney to represent him in the issue. The council had also retained an attorney specifically for the contract, as the city’s current attorney Lisa Vogler had recused herself from the issue. She was hired by Jordan and had worked with him prior to his time with the city, creating a conflict of interest.
The last time the proposed replacement contract was discussed in an open meeting -- which was Oct. 20, two days after Ionia County made its offer -- Jordan reiterated his position that he would not accept the replacement contract. At that time, Council Member Tyler DuBord recommended the council keep the new contract and use it as “a template for future contracts.”
This is not the first time Jordan, who has served as the city’s manager since 2017, has resigned from his position with the city. Jordan announced his resignation on Oct. 3, 2019, but was offered a new contract on Nov. 11, 2019. That contract stipulated that his severance package would be paid as a lump sum if he were to be terminated by the council, rather than biweekly over the course of six months as stated in his contract at the time of his hire.
There was no discussion from the council Thursday on how to proceed with finding a permanent replacement for Jordan.