Amarillo City Manager Jared Miller/Photo by Noah Dawson
Amarillo City Council is set to meet behind closed doors ahead of next Tuesday’s regular council meeting to “discuss the appointment, employment, evaluation, reassignment, duties, discipline, or dismissal” of City Manager Jared Miller.
Miller has been one of the most controversial figures in local politics since he was first hired by the city in 2017, shortly before Ginger Nelson was first elected mayor. He quickly became a key fixture of the Nelson administration and earned criticism from many of Nelson’s detractors.
Tensions regarding Miller’s employment came to a head earlier this year as Amarillo City Council took the controversial step of renegotiating Miller’s contract weeks before a new council was elected. The new contract came with increases to his salary, benefits, and severance package. It also made firing Miller more difficult. Before the contract was amended, Miller could have been fired with or without cause by a simple majority of the city council. However, under the amended contract, firing Miller without cause requires a supermajority of 4 out of 5 councilmembers.
Mayor Cole Stanley, who was serving as Councilman Place 1 when the contract was amended, was the sole vote against amending the contract. The move also drew public backlash, with over a dozen members of the public speaking against the move during the meeting. Among members of the public criticizing the move was Tom Scherlen, who called the move “total government overreach.” Scherlen was then elected to Amarillo City Council Place 3. Don Tipps, who was elected to City Council Place 2, also expressed criticism about the move during the meeting. “For the integrity of the council, to rebuild trust with the citizens, I’m going to ask you to […] pass that off to the incoming councilmembers,” Tipps asked the council.
Josh Craft and Les Simpson, who were elected to Place 1 and Place 4, expressed their concerns about the issue on social media. “I respectfully request the current Amarillo City Council does not take any action on this item that would bind or obligate the future council the voters are about to select,” said Simpson. In his statement, Craft said “I am cautious about the obligations included in the contract and hope council members will consider allowing the new council to finalize the city manager contract.”
It is worth noting that the item’s language and timing are different than regular performance reviews. Since 2019, executive session agenda items have included “discussion of City Manager Jared Miller’s performance evaluation,” during meetings held in February or March. Those agenda items did not mention the terms “discipline” or “dismissal.”