Emails show new Hudson City Council president moved quickly to remove city manager

Ten days after he became Hudson City Council president late last year, Chris Foster met with City Manager Jane Howington to begin a process that would lead to her departure from the job three months later.

That was one of the findings that came from the Akron Beacon Journal's review of about 3,000 pages of emails that occurred between Howington and City Council members — and among Council members — from early December through Feb. 11. The documents were obtained through a public records request

A study of the emails revealed few specifics regarding why a majority of City Council wanted Howington to depart from the leadership role she had held since August 2014, but it offered some details on when the process started and some of the steps and conversations that occurred.

Neither the emails from the two-month period nor recent performance reviews pointed to any kind of wrongdoing on Howington's part. The most recent performance review from last summer showed City Council members were sharply split in their views of how Howington performed. Some members gave her a "superior" rating, while others rated her at a "needs improvement" level.

Howington resigned March 18 after she and Council agreed to an employment separation deal that is paying her 16 months of her salary, which totals $224,000. Council had voted about a month earlier to accept her resignation.

Assistant City Manager Thom Sheridan was appointed to serve as Interim City Manager and the search is just beginning to find a new city manager.

The city charter says the manager has an indefinite tenure, but serves “at the pleasure of Council,” and states that Council can remove the manager if at least five of the seven members vote to do so.

Council president acts promptly after election to role

On Dec. 7, 2021, two newly elected City Council members — Chris Banweg and Karen Heater— were sworn in to office, and Foster, who declined to comment for this story, was elected as Council president.

Nine days later, Foster set Howington's departure in motion with an email requesting to meet: “I would like to sit down and talk about some issues. Do you have time tomorrow morning?"

Howington agreed, and on the afternoon of Dec. 17 she emailed Foster saying she wanted to recap their conversation from that morning. Howington noted Foster had opened the discussion by telling her that he “wanted [Howington] gone and wanted to know what that would take.”

“You also indicated you had 5 votes on Council to support my removal,” Howington wrote to Foster. “I asked why and your response was a lack of trust. Although you did say you felt I did a good job as Hudson’s city manager.”

Howington also summarized their discussion about determining severance pay and benefits, as well as the belief that she emphasized to Foster during the meeting that it would be difficult to find another job due to the way she had been treated by some City Council members.

“I also indicated the character [assassination] some Council members have inflicted on me for the past several years leaves the likelihood of my getting employment elsewhere slim to none,” Howington wrote.

Foster on Jan. 6 emailed a draft of a separation agreement to Howington, instructing her to have her legal counsel contact Hudson Interim City Solicitor Todd Hunt to review the items.

The emails reviewed by the Beacon Journal do not show any other action happening on the issue for the next 30 days.

On Feb. 6, two days before City Council was scheduled to meet to vote on a resolution suspending Howington pending removal, Foster emailed a reply to Howington’s Dec. 17 email that had recapped their meeting from that day.

"What you perceive as character assassination by a council member might also be characterized as employer dissatisfaction with a public official," Foster wrote to Howington.

On Feb. 8, Council met to discuss a resolution "suspending the city manager pending removal." On the morning of that meeting, a resident emailed Foster after hearing a report on a radio station about the removal effort.

“If you want to remove [Howington], for whatever reason, do it quietly and with professionalism,” the resident wrote. “. . .The public character assassination, especially of someone who largely performed admirably, until the last election, is unacceptable.”

A couple hours later, Foster replied to the resident he tried to keep the issue under wraps, but noted: “Quiet requires agreement on both parts. Otherwise it is public. Which I tried to avoid. But that will tell you who the individual is who wanted this to be public.”

The resident responded to Foster: “Understood. Thank you for your reply.”

Council met later that day, but did not act on the resolution to suspend Howington after Foster said legislators had reached an undisclosed tentative agreement with the city manager.

On Feb. 9, Foster emailed the same resident and stated: “Interestingly, it did end abruptly last night. Minds finally met. Things quieted down.”

Council voted 6-1 Feb. 22 to accept Howington's resignation, effective March 18. Council member Nicole Kowalski cast the dissenting vote, while Banweg and Heater — who had been on Council for two months and had never formally evaluated Howington — voted to accept the resignation.

Foster discussed Howington's departure before he became president

Records also show that Foster was thinking about asking Howington to resign even before he became Council President on Dec. 7.

Kowalski emailed Foster on Dec. 6 to thank him for a meeting the two had two days earlier, and stated she "couldn't stop thinking about" their discussion regarding Howington.

"I have been sick about it, thinking about how you said you don't believe she is right for the city and want to ask her to leave," Kowalski wrote to Foster. "I admit part of my confusion and why I feel so bummed about this is because I genuinely think she has done a good job. I realized after our conversation, that you genuinely don't. If you would be willing to give me some insight, I would appreciate it because I don't feel like I understand."

She added she thought looking at Howington's performance reviews would provide clarity, but it didn't. Noting the city manager acts at Council's direction, Kowalski asked Foster if more blame should be placed on previous councils that did not share Foster's vision for Hudson. She also suggested that if Foster became Council president, he could see if Howington's performance improves with him setting the course.

"I am hoping you will reconsider talking to her about resigning on Wednesday [Dec. 8]," Kowalski wrote to Foster Dec. 6.

Foster replied to Kowalski a short time later: "Let's talk again. I am not taking this negatively in any way. I have had ups and downs juggling with exactly this thought process over the past 2 years."

The records review did not uncover emails documenting further conversation between the two on the subject.

On the evening of Dec. 7, City Council met and Foster was elected president, but Kowalski and Council Member Kate Schlademan opposed the election.

Opinions strongly divided on manager's performance

Council members were starkly divided in their most performance review of Howington in August 2021. Two current members — Kowalski and Schlademan —, and two now-former members — Hal DeSaussure and Bill Wooldredge — gave Howington above average to excellent marks. The other three members, all current — Beth Bigham, Foster and Sutton — gave Howington average to below average ratings.

Foster called on Howington to "focus on the job of management, out of politics," and to hold staff accountable for timely work performance and to "ensure residents' needs take priority."

Kowalski, meanwhile, called Howington an "excellent" city manager and praised her for management of staff and the budget.

Schlademan said Howington had built "a very effective team which keeps the city running smoothly whatever we may face."

Sutton, on the other hand, was critical of Howington on areas of infrastructure and economic development. He said infrastructure work "remains 'village centric' and noted the "old township is suffering with no end in sight."

Bigham did not provide any written comments on her 2021 evaluation forms.

Wooldredge, who preceded Foster as president, said in the 2021 evaluation that Howington had done an "outstanding job."

DeSaussure echoed Wooldredge's praise of Howington, and noted she had adjusted to the evolving needs of Council despite a sometimes-toxic atmosphere.

"Jane has done her work in an environment which is antagonistic," DeSaussure stated in August 2021. "It is a fact of life currently that some on Council seek to promote themselves at the expense of the City Manager. Jane has become a target created by some to gain an audience and to impress certain quarters on the social media landscape. This has by design been harmful to Jane, both personally and professionally."

Former city manager says residents are top priority

Howington said people need to be able to work together to successfully govern.

“If communication stops or trust stops, that’s going to be difficult,” she said. “I think that all played into pretty much my decisions and how I negotiated and managed moving forward.”

The most important thing, she said, is to do what’s best for the residents.

“If I didn’t feel that I was going to be effective for the community or I was going to be divisive for some reason, then it’s only in the best interest of the community that we figure a way to resolve that,” Howington said. “While it was messy over the last couple of months, I think that’s what we did.”

While noting she had not been thinking about leaving the job before Foster approached her, Howington added, “I think that this is probably going to work out best that hopefully my absence will resolve some potential conflict and maybe things can kind of heal a little bit.”

Howington said she plans on staying in Hudson and is doing some volunteer work.

As far as work is concerned, she noted her options are open, but doubts she will work as a city manager again.

“I think that ship has sailed,” she said.

Reporter Phil Keren can be reached at 330-541-9421, pkeren@thebeaconjournal.com, or on Twitter at @keren_phil.

This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Hudson City Council President moved quickly to remove city manager