Council terminates interim position

By PHIL MONSON
In a special meeting of the Humboldt City Council on July 24, an interim city administrator contract with Dan Gifford was terminated (immediately) by a unanimous vote.

Gifford, who came out of retirement to fill the vacancy until Humboldt hires a replacement in the next few months, had been on board since July 6. He had been working two days per week, Mondays and Wednesdays at 20 hours per week. He was paid $1,500 per week plus mileage ($111.64 per round trip) from his home in Spencer.

Gifford had retired in September of 2024 from his city administrator position after 27 years of experience.

“To be honest, it’s not working out. Amy (Zeman, city clerk) is doing too much work. She is doing all the work. We have zero help coming from our interim city administrator,” Humboldt mayor Walt Jensen said.

“Amy is willing to step in and serve as an interim administrator and we’ve also contacted Gloria Christensen (retired as city clerk in 2024) to come back and work part-time for briefly until we get fully staffed,” Jensen said.

“A few employees have come forward with complaints about going to our current interim administrator for help and not getting any help,” Zeman said.

“Granted, this situation was odd in that he didn’t come until after Cole (Bockelmann, former administrator) had left, so there was no training of any sort. Cole left packets on his desk with a sticky note and none of those piles have been touched,” Zeman said.

“He’s not taking the laptop home with him. He leaves on a Wednesday and doesn’t come back until Monday. Essentially you guys are paying me time and one-half to do it while he’s not doing anything. That’s not fiscally responsible,” Zeman said. “I respect whatever decision you guys make.”

“I’ve gone in to try to talk to him about things and it is like trying to talk to a water bottle,” John Sleiter, councilman, said.

Zeman said she personally reached out to Christensen to see if she was interested in helping. Christensen said she is not interested in the interim position but expressed interest in filling the clerk position in a brief role.

Christensen, who was out of state on vacation at the time, would communicate more with city officials when she returned.

The recruiting firm the city hired to find a new city administrator anticipated a 15-week time period before a new leader would be in place, a timeframe of September/October.

Zeman shared financial figures with the council which showed the savings that would occur by discontinuing payments to Gifford, as well as not having to pay Zeman overtime to take care of work that Gifford isn’t doing.

“The rate that Gloria left at which is where the city clerk is at currently would be an appropriate pay rate if she returned to work for us,” Zeman said. “But that discussion will take place when she gets back.”

“If he (Gifford) is not willing to step up and do things, this is our best option,” Councilman Kirk Whittlesey said. “Gloria knows what’s going on and it wouldn’t take her long to bring everything up to speed. This is the best action we can take at this time, best for the city and best for finances.”

“He’s a nice guy but when I have talked to him, he doesn’t really seem engaged with the situation,” Whittlesey said.

The contract with Gifford requires him to give a 30-day notice for departure but the city has the option to terminate immediately.

“I honestly think he’s enjoying the $750 a day that he’s receiving and is content on doing nothing because he’s retired,” Sleiter said.

“I’ve tried to help him along the way. There are things that need to be taken care of and closed out, but nothing. I’ve gotten a blank stare. Unfortunately, with my time schedule it is easier for me to do it myself,” Zeman said.

“If it’s not working out, it’s not working out. If he’s got piles on his desk that haven’t been picked up. If Gloria is willing to help out, then we go with what we’ve been talking about,” Councilman Joel Goodell said.

“If nothing has been done in three weeks, then it is time to move on. At least Amy has knowledge of the stuff that needs to be done,” Councilman Matt Dominick said.

The council agreed to discuss details at their Aug. 3 meeting on a potential return of Christensen and how her pay package would look like.

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