Employee payoffs are Board of Water & Light tradition

September 13, 2024

I would have titled this story "BWL employees continue to get paid to leave" but I already used it for a story in 2020. That story listed 13 employees whose termination agreements provided a substantial payoff. Seven had been revealed in a State Journal story and I learned of the other 6 by other means (which I don't remember). Here are the ones named by the State Journal; click on the name to see the termination agreement:

Joseph Pandy Jr.	$730,000	General Manager; fired in 2002. The $730,000 was to settle a lawsuit that also cost BWL $223,000 for legal services.
Sanford Novick	$250,000	General Manager; left 8/25/06.
William Cook	$400,000	Senior vice president of operations; fired by Peter Lark on 7/16/07, his first day on the job. On 12/21/07, was reinstated at a salary of $153,303 and put on paid administrative leave until 3/2/09, when he would have the 25 years of service that qualified him for full pension benefits.
Robert Van Ells	$99,000	Manager of electric and steam production; fired by Peter Lark on 7/16/07, his first day on the job. On 8/27/07, Van Ells agreed to retire as of 7/20/07.
Amy Cavanaugh	$60,375	General Counsel; fired by Peter Lark on 7/16/07, his first day on the job. On 7/24/07, she agreed to "resign" as of 7/16/07.
Denise Mulder	$24,254	Human Resources Director; on 12/13/07, agreed to "resign" as of 12/5/07.
Richard Daly	$14,875	Human Resources employee; on 11/29/07, after threatening to sue BWL for wrongful discharge, agreed to "resign" effective 7/20/07.

And here are the other 6:

Name	Position	Hire Date	Termination Date	Payoff Amount
Kimberly Ingram	?	02/13/2017	03/12/2018	$51,250
Patricia Aronin	?	07/05/2011	06/01/2018	$15,000
Donna Smith	HR Sys Consult: Occup Health	11/30/1989	01/04/2020	$42,000
Craig Smith	Maintenance Mechanic	11/22/1988	01/31/2020	$41,000
Gregory DeMyers II	Laborer	04/14/2008	02/01/2020	$55,000
Scott Garrett	HR Process Advisor	01/07/2008	03/02/2020	$86,000

The anonymous email I published August 14 gave me 5 new names, only 4 of which actually had termination agreements. I obtained those agreements through a Freedom of Information Act request.

Name	Position	Hire Date	Termination Date	Agreement Date	Payoff Amount
Kellie Elford	Senior Operations Advisor	2/5/2018	6/3/2023	5/31/2023	$90,000
Robert Perialas	Manager, Enterprise Customer Experience	8/12/2002	1/12/2024	4/24/2024	$73,428
Lynette Keller	Executive Director, Human Resources	4/6/2020	?	11/22/2021	$144,300
Tracy Strudwick	Manager, Human Resources	7/19/2021	?	8/19/2024	$34,500

It is time to put an end to these payoffs. They are a misuse of ratepayer money.

One purpose is to keep the employee from taking legal action against the BWL. This is from Strudwick's agreement:

Another is non-disclosure of "confidential and competitive information". This would seem to be more of an issue for private industry.

Another purpose is to keep the employee from "disparaging" the BWL. Strudwick's non-disparagement clause is short and simple:

Keller's non-disparagement clause names who and what may not be disparaged:

General Manager Richard Peffley must be pretty sensitive about his "direct reports" if Keller had to agree not to disparage them.

Perialas' agreement was mutual. He can't say mean things about them and they can't say mean things about him:

Quit paying employees to leave. The cost of payoffs to departing employees may be a tiny fraction of the BWL budget, but it is a practice that should end. It is lazy management; if the employee is not doing the job, either work with them or fire them. Payoffs are the easy way out, and not likely to occur unless they are made with other people's money. The Board should ban them.

The Board should at least ban the non-disparagement agreements included in some of the termination agreements. They suggest that the employee has information that Management doesn't want the public to have. That's exactly the sort of information the public needs to have. Non-disparagement agreements are inappropriate for a public agency, whose activities are supposed to be open to the public. And when any government agency suppresses its employees' free speech, it is a violation of the First Amendment.

Send comments, questions, and tips to stevenrharry@gmail.com or call or text me at 517-730-2638. If you'd like to be notified by email when I post a new story, let me know.

A reminder that you can find detailed payroll reports for the City of Lansing, the Board of Water & Light and Capital Area Transportation Authority for several past years here.

Previous stories