Henderson police chief’s buyout will top $200,000

Henderson Police Chief Jutta Chambers will receive about $206,700 in an employee buyout if she sticks to her plan to retire, according to Fred Horvath, the city’s director of Human Resources.

Chambers told her staff on Feb. 16 that she would retire.

The announcement followed a controversial police beating that was recorded by a Nevada Highway Patrol trooper’s dashboard camera. The victim’s attorney released the video to the media Feb. 7, sparking public outrage.

Chambers, who was named chief in 2008 after joining the department as a patrol officer in 1983, has not publicly discussed the incident or her decision to retire. She could not be reached for comment Thursday.

A source with knowledge of the issue said City Manager Mark Calhoun strongly suggested she step down after several members of the City Council voiced concerns to him regarding how she handled the beating and its aftermath.

While Chambers’ decision to retire might have been forced upon her, scores of other Henderson employees have decided to leave as well under a cost-cutting buyout program.

Chambers is one of 67 Henderson employees who hope to take advantage of the city’s voluntary employment severance program. This is the fifth round of buyouts since January 2009, when the city implemented staff reductions to address dramatic budget shortfalls.

Horvath said Chambers’ buyout amount of more than $200,000 is far above the average. "I’m guessing the average payout will be in the $30,000 to $40,000 range," he said.

More than 240 employees have participated in the city’s program since 2009 and about 70 percent of those positions remain vacant.

In January, the City Council set aside $5 million to fund this fifth round of staff reductions. Horvath said that money will be recovered in 10 to 12 months.

"The intent of the program is to accelerate the creation of vacancies that otherwise wouldn’t exist," he said. "We’ve saved $31 million since January 2009."

That translates to savings of $565,000 every pay period, he said. "We’re real comfortable we know to a penny how much we are saving every payday," said Horvath.

Forty of the 67 employees considering a buyout already have filed the necessary paperwork, said Horvath, but that doesn’t mean they will clean out their desk right away.

Horvath and Bud Cranor, the city’s communications director, said the bulk of employees will depart June 21.

The delayed exit is to ensure institutional memory doesn’t leave with the departing employees. "We take great pains to ensure that knowledge is transferred," Horvath said.

Employees only have to have full-time status to qualify for the program. The city pays out two weeks salary for every year of employment, using the salary in place at the time of the buyout, Horvath said.

"Clearly, this is an incentive to retire early," Horvath said.

Chambers earns about $185,000 a year. Her retirement through the Public Employees Retirement System has been estimated at about $130,000.

And while her leaving comes with a bit of a windfall, it also comes with a black mark.

In the video, Henderson Police Sgt. Brett Seekatz is shown kicking a man . The man, Adam Greene, 38, was pulled over for erratic driving about 4 a.m. on Oct. 29, 2010. Law enforcement personnel thought they had a drunken driver on their hands, but Greene, 38, had gone into diabetic shock.

The city earlier this month settled a lawsuit with Greene for $158,000. The city attorney’s office earlier agreed to pay his wife $99,000, a sum that doesn’t require City Council approval. The Highway Patrol paid the family $35,000.

Seekatz was disciplined but not terminated, demoted or charged with a crime.

Contact reporter Doug McMurdo at dmcmurdo@reviewjournal.com or 702-224-5512.