PORTSMOUTH — The city of Portsmouth spent $1 million on severance payments over the last five years to outgoing employees — a higher amount than previously disclosed as city officials incorrectly omitted data responsive to a public records request.
The additional severance payouts for top employees reveal $1.02 million has been paid out to 14 top city employees since 2019. That’s up from $896,318 paid to 11 top city employees as exclusively reported by The Virginian-Pilot in June.
The incomplete disclosure was an unintentional oversight, according to city spokesperson Dana Woodson, who said in an email that it was “the City’s good faith belief that all relevant records were provided at the time.” As a result of the error, the city is now working to purchase a records management system to better track Freedom of Information Act requests.
While the city has previously told The Pilot it does not keep logs of FOIA requests received, it did not provide information in response to inquiries for this article about current FOIA tracking and response practices.
The error also prompted City Manager Steven Carter to apologize on the city’s behalf, noting the city “stumbled” in its attempt to respond to the FOIA request.
In a separate statement provided this week, Carter said the city strives to be as transparent and accountable as possible when responding to information requests.
“However, at the end of the day, we will fall short sometimes,” he said. “This was one of those times. We have learned a lot through this process and will continue to work hard to improve all of our processes in the future.”
Severance payout data was reported because of high turnover in top city positions in Portsmouth, a concern residents often raise to decision-makers, even likening city leadership to a “revolving door” at times. Over the past four years, the city has seen three city managers and four police chiefs, in addition to shakeups in the city assessor’s office.
But leaders say severance agreements are sometimes necessary in a region where surrounding municipalities frequently try to lure top talent away.
Portsmouth has paid nearly $900,000 in severance to departing employees over last 5 years
Following The Pilot’s reporting, a former employee who received a severance payout contacted the newspaper and said the information wasn’t comprehensive. After The Pilot questioned the city about the discovery, more records were provided to The Pilot by the city, disclosing four additional payouts and three other employees.
The recipient who reached out was Thomas Stallings, who served two stints as General Services Director. He told The Pilot he shared the discrepancy for the sake of transparency and accuracy. It was previously reported that Stallings received $10,803, but he’s also entitled to $22,705. Stallings held the role first from 2015 to 2022, when he was terminated by former City Manager Tonya Chapman. He was brought back in 2023 under former Interim City Manager Mimi Terry before being let go by former Interim City Manager Lydia Pettis Patton earlier this year, he said.
The employees who received the largest single payouts remain the same as previously reported: Pettis Patton and former City Attorney Solomon Ashby. But in disclosing the additional set of records, the city also corrected the payout amount for Ashby, who was entitled to $113,476, not $133,476 as previously reported. Pettis Patton received $133,436.
Pettis Patton resigned and Ashby was fired amid protests and controversy over criminal charges filed in the vandalism of a Confederate monument in 2020.
But the largest total payout amount went to Terry, who was paid twice after parting ways with the city and returning, collectively receiving $153,435.
Other employees not included in the original reporting who were authorized for severance payouts upon departure include former Chief Information Officer Daniel Jones for $25,270 and former Interim Deputy City Manager Robert Moore for $40,539, according to the city. Moore began his tenure with the city in 2016 before resigning in 2022 and previously led the city’s economic development department. Jones was hired in 2016 and also parted ways with the city in 2022.
Neither Jones nor Moore could be reached for comment.
Former City Assessor Patrick Dorris, who was terminated by a majority of Portsmouth City Council in March 2023, was granted $57,224, or about six months worth of severance. Dorris had been working for the city since 2021.
He’s since sued the city for wrongful termination, but no hearing is scheduled at this time.
City policy authorizes the city manager to offer severance agreements to department heads and deputy city managers, though it’s ultimately up to the manager’s discretion. Employees who are terminated with cause, however, aren’t entitled to severance.
City policy as of May 2023 states that payment can’t exceed more than 12 weeks of the employee’s salary and doesn’t extend to health or retirement benefits. The source of funding from the city’s budget for the severance must be identified, and severance must be coordinated with the city attorney’s office to ensure it is only granted if the employee is terminated without cause.
Woodson said current human resources and financial records are not indexed in a manner that allows a search for severance payments or severance agreements. Instead, records had to be searched manually and institutional knowledge used to identify which employees may have severance agreements or payments. Additionally, city staff used records from the Human Resources and Finance departments to manually calculate severance amounts since that pay could be included as part of a departing employee’s total pay in the following paycheck, for example.
The discrepancies and errors in providing all relevant records to The Pilot have prompted the city to seek a records management system.
“(This) particular exercise has revealed flaws in our process that we are working to swiftly mitigate,” Woodson said in an email. “These differences highlight the need for a more integrated and searchable records system that can streamline the process and enhance accuracy.”
Natalie Anderson, 757-732-1133, natalie.anderson@virginiamedia.com
