Will outgoing AC Transit Manager get paid over half a million dollars not to work?
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Parting is such sweet sorrow—emphasis on the “sweet” for AC Transit general manager, who is only kind of retiring. His new gig won’t come with any work expectations; but as late as 2022, records show, he was already pulling down $556,045. Did he threaten a lawsuit or something? Not even. The Oaklandside’s Jose Fermoso reports.
AC Transit Ward 3 Director Sarah Syed, speaking at the agency’s monthly board meeting on Wednesday, accused her fellow directors of approving an expensive “sweetheart” settlement deal for the outgoing general manager, Michael Hursh.
Syed said the agreement has Hursh staying on as a senior adviser with a complete “executive CEO” salary and benefits but no work expectations.
According to Transparent California, the state’s public pay and pension database, Hursh made $556,045 in 2022, the last year his information is available.
“The deal allows the General Manager to seek and accept other employment without restriction,” Syed wrote in her statement, which she read in full at the board meeting “At a time when we should be earning the public’s trust to save our agency from the fiscal cliff, this sweetheart deal is a colossal misjudgment.”
Syed’s core argument is that if the investigator found no reason to be afraid of a lawsuit, the agreement to keep Hursh on as an adviser didn’t make sense.
Read the whole thing here.
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