The city will be paying an extra $9,800 per year with changes to the city manager’s salary package.

The council voted 3-0 on the new contract at its Nov. 25 meeting.

City Manager Doug Dunford will receive the same eight percent salary increases which was extended to employees in five bargaining units. That brings his monthly salary to $18,900 or $226,800 per year.

The contract was also amended to increase his lump sum severance pay out by a month – not to exceed five months’ worth – should he be terminated in the first through the end of the second year of the salary agreement.

Dunford’s contract is written so that he can receive medical and dental benefits but he does not currently them since he is included in his wife’s benefits package in her retirement as a CHP officer. Should something happen where those benefits aren’t available through his wife, Dunford told the Courier, he could take up the city’s benefits package.

Last summer the council approved changes to the salary contracts with its employees. Beginning Jan. 1, 2025 the city will contribute the following amounts toward the combined premiums to medical, dental, and vision on a semi-monthly basis: 

• $810 monthly for employees enrolled in employee-only medical coverage.

• $1,600 monthly for employees enrolled in employee plus one family member medical coverage.

• $2,250 monthly for employees enrolled in employee and family (more than one dependent) medical coverage.

The city is eliminating the voluntary benefits of $50 semi-monthly over 24 pay periods.

When it came time to vote on Dunford’s contract, Councilmembers James Casey and Bret Silveira abstained from voting instead of voting no.