NORFOLK — City Council voted unanimously to appoint Deputy City Manager Patrick “Pat” Roberts as city manager following Larry “Chip” Filer’s resignation Tuesday afternoon.
Hints of Filer’s departure came earlier this month, when City Council voted to approve an employee compensation plan that updated details about Filer’s severance. The plan, approved June 13, boosts the payout and benefits Filer receives and makes him eligible for severance even if he resigns, rather than only if he is involuntarily terminated.
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Judges said, “The severance package was sweetened up prior to the city manager's departure, and it seems clear most people - including city council members - would not have been aware of that sweetening if it were not for the reporter's close reading of the council documents. It's the classic sort of watchdog reporting that readers pay us to do.”