Belleville City Council fires city manager with 3 months pay

At a two-minute special meeting at 6:30 p.m., June 19, the Belleville City Council took a roll-call vote unanimously approving the signing of a severance agreement that had already been signed that morning by city manager Jason Smith. Then the meeting adjourned.
Mayor Ken Voigt said, after the meeting, that in the agreement Smith gets three months of severance pay.
He said earlier that Jason Smith no longer is employed by the city of Belleville and after the meeting said, “We wish him well.”
When asked what happens next, mayor Voigt confirmed that the city had an assistant city manager, Steve Jones, and that the council would consider its options. He said there probably will be a search for a new city manager.
Inside sources tell the Independent the problem was with the budget and spending.
Smith was selected for Belleville City Manager on Aug. 28, 2023 on a 3-2 vote of the city council, with then-mayor-pro-tem Ken Voigt and councilman Jeremiah Beebe voting no. Voigt said he preferred giving the job to Steve Jones, who he had worked with over the years at Music Lakeside and who knew the community.
Jones, however, didn’t have the college credits or experience required by the city charter for the position but had been granted a courtesy interview as an internal candidate. Jones was serving as the city’s projects director at the time.
Smith began his at-will job on Oct. 16, 2023 at a salary of $85,000. He had asked for six months of severance pay for termination without cause and no severance pay for termination with cause. His agreement ran until Nov. 1, 2026.
His total compensation for 2024 was $107,859.12, which included salary of $86,923.08, plus benefits of $20,936.04.
Before coming to Belleville in 2023, he had been Litchfield city manager since 2021 and served as Eaton Rapids Downtown Development Authority executive director from 2019-21. He was mayor of the city of Jackson from 2013-15.