MAYOR HOUSTON SETTLES SICK PAY ISSUES

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Ernie Slottag 789-2235

Mayor J. Michael Houston today announced that the city has finalized nearly all of the agreements with individuals who had erroneously received sick time pay outs upon their retirements.

Seven individuals who recently retired from the City of Springfield, including former City Water, Light and Power General Manager Todd Renfrow, had been given payments totaling more than $58,000 in sick time benefits.

“I was contacted by Todd Renfrow’s attorney on Tuesday, to schedule a meeting on the matter,” said Mayor Houston. “That meeting was held on Wednesday. At that time Todd agreed to pay back the money through a withdrawal from his deferred compensation account. The necessary paperwork has been filed with the deferred compensation company and the city expects to receive the check within the week that will resolve everything with him.”

The last individual to resolve his sick time payout, Charles Best, is scheduled to meet with the City within the next two weeks.

The error apparently originated over the eligibility requirements for retirement benefits. The City has since taken the initiative to change internal controls so that there are now extra layers of review before these kinds of payments are approved in the future.