Bozeman City Manager Jeff Mihelich has been benched on paid leave following a leaked candid video call where he dissed associates and aired dirty laundry about the city he managed. Mihelich didn't mince words on his feelings toward Bozeman's new mayor and even the city of Austin, which had the misfortune of being the subject of his acerbic tirade via an inadvertent "secret" recording.
The trouble began to brew when Mihelich was caught on camera speaking ill of the community, colleagues, and the perks of being a city manager. He's heard saying "It's a s*** show," about Austin and claiming he was offered a $475,000 salary plus excessive extras like car and housing allowances by a recruiter. According to an exclusive obtained by CBS Austin, Mihelich thought nobody would catch wind of these comments.
As for the lure of the State of Texas capital, the Montana city manager detailed a strategy to “suck it up” for five years before retirement. Mihelich's blunt honesty has earned him an unwanted vacation as he stews over a future that's suddenly less certain. The City of Bozeman promptly put Mihelich on ice effective Feb. 1, and a special city commission meeting is earmarked for Feb. 12 to hash out "next steps for the City Manager," revealed in a press release and reported by MTN News.
Meanwhile, Assistant City Manager Kira Peters stepped up to the plate until Feb. 6, when Chuck Winn is expected to take over as the Acting City Manager. Amidst the tussle, Bozeman Mayor Terry Cunningham lamented the incident, expressing that "this is not reflective of the organization that we are trying to build," further underscoring the dedication of many employees "who dutifully and respectfully serve the public every day." Mihelich's mea culpa arrived swiftly, but only after his fireside chat became public. "I apologize to the Commission, to City staff, and most importantly, to Bozeman residents for the way I conducted myself," Mihelich stated in a subsequent pour of regret.
Across Austin, where the role of a city manager rivals the income of tech giants and oil barons, the eye-watering $475,000 paycheck didn't go unnoticed. Adam Andrzejewski, founder of the watchdog group Open the Books, weighed in to highlight that such a sum would outpace the salaries of his Texan peers and even the mayor of the nation's third-largest city. Comparing Spencer Cronk, the former Austin city manager who raked in $397,000 before being shown the door, the public is just beginning to understand the magnitude of the financial frills tied to these civic positions. Despite this, Austin's search for its next city captain sails on, with the recruiting being handled by a third-party firm and interviews on the docket for the mayor and city council.
