By Amanda Estes
Staff Writer
    With South Portland City Manager Ted Jankowski absent from last Monday’s city council meeting, rumors began to fly about his fate in the position.
    Last Wednesday, Mayor Claude Morgan confirmed that Jankowski wished to resign and said his departure was on “amicable” terms.
    With Jankowski’s resignation going into effect as of 5 p.m. Thursday, Assistant City Manager Jim Gailey will fill the role of interim city manager.
    In his resignation letter, dated May 24, Jankowski stated he was leaving to “pursue other professional opportunities.”
    “In retrospect, as the first outsider in the job in over thirty years, I should not have accepted the position last September as an ‘at will’ employee,” he continued. “As you know the City’s Charter does not allow for binding term contracts–the Manager can only serve on an ‘indefinite’ basis. Therefore, I have decided to resign my position and seek other professional opportunities that allow for more long-term predictability relative to future employment.”
    Last Friday, Councilor Maxine Beecher had little comment about Jankowski’s departure, but did say, “ I can feel from where he’s coming, but unfortunately unless you change the charter, you don’t have a choice.”
    According to the city charter, the council has the authority to remove the city manager by a majority vote of its members.
    Jankowski’s employment contract stipulates that should he voluntarily resign, “he shall not be entitled to salary after the effective date of the resignation or to severance benefits, except he shall be paid for accrued, unused vacation and any sick days which have accrued and which other management employees receive.”
    If the council terminates Jankowski, his contract calls for the city to provide him with a “cash payment equal to two calendar months of compensation and all unused, accrued vacation time.”
    The separation agreement of Jankowski’s departure, however, states the city will pay him $34,664, or four months of his salary at the time of separation; $4,133.33 in accrued vacation time of 77.5 hours; $3,551.72 for four months of insurance coverage; and $1,200 which represents the balance of his moving account.
    The total gross amount, subject to state and federal deductions, is $43,549.05, according to the document.
    Morgan said the severance package “abides by industry standards,” but also “reflects the council’s appreciation for the work (Jankowski) did.” He added that the council put together a similar package for Jeff Jordan when he resigned from the position last May.
    Councilor Ralph Baxter said he was satisfied with the severance package and added it was the result of some negotiation between Jankowski and the council, with Jankowski asking for some things he didn’t get. He said the amount of the package will likely seem “high” to the public, but he said it is in line with the profession’s standards.
    “It is not frivolous spending…there are serious legal ramifications behind such a package,” Morgan said. He said the city did seek legal advice about what type of package would be appropriate. It is important to “cover your bases,” he said, so when future fact finders look into the terms of separation, they will find the employee had been “left whole” with a generous package.
    City Attorney Mary Kahl confirmed that Bernstein Shur, Sawyer and Nelson provided legal counsel on the matter and declined to comment further on the agreement.
    Morgan said during his eight-month tenure, Jankowski brought attention to areas of city government that need work. Specifically, he said Jankowski’s “extensive legislative experience” and understanding of federal and state processes identified a need to work toward a “more integrated commerce with other levels of government.”
    Referring to a trip to Washington D.C. to lobby for federal funds for highway work, including the creation of a south-bound on ramp on exit four of I-295, Morgan said Jankowski pointed the city in the right direction.
    “We have neighbors who make trips to Washington ten times a year to lobby for special funding,” he said. “It really is a method of doing business that a city of our economic standing should be deeply involved in.”
    In his resignation letter, Jankowski said he was “optimistic that the trip…will bear fruit and result in federal funding to improve the 295, exit four ramp and remove truck traffic off of our streets.”
    Bringing attention to other accomplishments, Jankowski also said, “I am hopeful that my analysis of our recent budget history was helpful in this year’s budget deliberations, and will provide us with some healthy financial goals for the future years.”
    He also made reference to the move to ‘green’ electricity for the holiday trees in Mill Creek Park and to biodiesel for the city’s truck fleet.
    As of Tuesday afternoon, Morgan said in an email, the council had yet to come together to decide how to proceed with the search for a new candidate.
    “We’ll need to workshop this item, decide how soon to begin the search and come up with a game plan for reaching out and selecting,” he said. “I don’t imagine we’re in any hurry, as we’re in the capable hands of Jim Gailey.”
    The council was aided in their previous search by the human resource consulting firm, Drake Inglesi Milardo.  In their referral of Jankowski, the firm made a guarantee that should his tenure fall short of a full year, they will conduct a free search to replace him.
    Morgan said the council would decide whether or not it wishes to use their services again.
    Repeated attempts to reach Jankowski were unsuccessful. His resignation follows the council’s May 14 evaluation, which Jankowski agreed to despite his misgivings that performance evaluations conducted prior to the one-year mark contradicted his contract and industry standards.
    The council was scheduled to formally vote on accepting Jankowski's resignation on Wednesday night, after the Sentry's deadline.