Morro Bay council approves severance package for Lueker

December 13, 2013

The Morro Bay City Council approved a severance package Thursday for outgoing City Manager Andrea Lueker.

Lueker will receive a $153,322 payout and will resign from her position on Jan. 3, 2014. The agreement bars both Lueker and the city from making disparaging remarks about each other. Lueker is also barred from suing the city.

Lueker’s severance package includes nine months pay, totaling $116,000, plus $4,081 in holiday pay, $4,500 in unused sick leave and $38,698 in accrued vacation time.

The council voted 5-0 to approve Lueker’s severance package and 3-2, with council members Nancy Johnson and George Leage dissenting, to place her on administrative leave.

Lueker will be on administrative leave until her Jan. 3 resignation, and Administrative Services Director Susan Slayton will assume the role of acting city manager.

“The city has appointed Ms. Susan Slayton as acting city manager who has held this position in Ms. Lueker’s absence in the past,” Mayor Jamie Irons said in a written statement Thursday. “We are placing our confidence in Ms. Slayton while we pursue an interim city manager. This separation agreement concludes this matter, and we are now ready to move on.”

Irons called for the firing of Lueker and then city attorney Rob Schultz in September. Schultz agreed to resign last month and received a $163,235 severance package.

Neither Irons, nor members of the council ever stated a reason for cutting ties with the city’s top two executives.

The ousting of Lueker and Schultz has prompted a campaign to recall Irons. Opponents of Irons are currently gathering signatures on recall petition and need 25 percent of registered Morro Bay voters to sign it in order to trigger an election.

Lueker worked for the city of Morro Bay since 1987, rising the ranks from lifeguard to city manager. She has been city manager since 2007.