Greg Nyhoff expected to resign as Vallejo's city manager
(Still frame courtesy City of Oxnard, California; Graphic by Solano NewsNet)
After less than four years on the job, Greg Nyhoff is expected to resign his position as Vallejo’s city manager.
The resignation will cap a tumultuous term for Nyhoff, which was originally scheduled to end in 2023.
Nyhoff came to Vallejo in 2017 after serving for nearly three decades in various public service and administration roles in other communities. Prior to serving in Vallejo, he worked as the city manager for Oxnard in Southern California.
His term as Vallejo’s city manager has been mired in controversy almost from the start, with community activists accusing Nyhoff of mishandling several fatal officer-involved shootings and failing to bring the Vallejo Police Department to order in their wake. A report published last summer by the independent watchdog publication Open Vallejo said Nyhoff was “informed” of a custom in which officers who engaged in fatal shootings bent the tips of their badges, though Nyhoff told the website that he had no prior knowledge of it.
Calls for his resignation intensified earlier this year when the Vallejo Police Department opened a community resource center on Mare Island without the approval of the city council. The opening of the center was seen by some to be a “first step” in the process of moving the Vallejo Police Department’s headquarters to Mare Island, which opponents say could send a chilling message to those who encounter it upon entering the city.
Nyhoff was also the subject of a lengthy report published by Open Vallejo earlier this year that said the city manager secretly held meetings with a Mare Island mega-developer, then pushed for financial terms that were unfavorable to the City of Vallejo. Two city staffers who raised concerns about Nyhoff’s involvement in those meetings and his conduct overall were later fired, Open Vallejo said.
Nyhoff has been absent from city council meetings and City Hall in general since late May. His absence was initially colored by city officials as medical leave, though it came after a city employee filed an unspecified human resources complaint against him. Speculation began to swirl over Nyhoff’s fate when Open Vallejo published an image last Friday that claimed to show a moving van driving away from Nyhoff’s last known residence.
On Wednesday, independent reporter John Glidden obtained a draft separation agreement that put to rest any doubt about Nyhoff’s future in Vallejo.
The agreement, dated June 30 but not yet signed, calls for the City of Vallejo to pay Nyhoff to make two severance payments that collectively total over $408,000. Around $26,000 of his severance will be made as a pre-tax contribution into Nyhoff’s retirement account, the document said.
Under the agreement, Nyhoff will also collect payments or reimbursements for the following:
$67,382: Unused annual leave, including unused vacation and sick time, which must be paid out under California law.
$36,768: CalPERS payment, the amount of money the City of Vallejo would have contributed to Nyhoff’s CalPERS pension.
$23,100: Housing allowance, to compensate Nyhoff for the amount remaining on the lease of his home in Vallejo.
$15,000: To cover Nyhoff’s attorney’s fees for unspecified legal issues. It was not clear if these legal issues were related to ongoing or anticipated cases. The draft agreement said Nyhoff would affirm that there were no actual or anticipated legal cases related to his employment or separation.
$3,000: Vehicle allowance, to give Nyhoff the opportunity to find alternative transportation.
$720: Membership reimbursement, to compensate Nyhoff for his membership in the International City/County Management Association (ICMA).
Additionally, the City of Vallejo says it will cover the cost of Nyhoff’s health insurance for a period of 18 months after his resignation. That perk, known as COBRA, is typically paid by employees themselves when they leave a job.
All told, Nyhoff stands to collect more than $577,000 in cash compensation and other perks if he and the City of Vallejo approve the separation agreement. He could collect even more cash if he is asked to appear as a witness in any litigation involving the City of Vallejo, the agreement said, with that compensation being paid out at a pre-determined hourly rate.
The Vallejo City Council has scheduled a special meeting on Thursday to discuss the separation agreement. Nyhoff’s medical leave of absence is scheduled to end July 6.
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