Interim City Clerk contract sets salary at $120,000

BY JENNIFER CABRERA

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – A contract for Kristen Bryant, who was selected as the City of Gainesville’s Interim Clerk, is on the consent agenda of the July 20 Gainesville City Commission meeting.

The commission voted on June 20 to set her salary between $112,000 and $143,000, and the contract is at the low end of that, specifying $120,000 as her base salary. Bryant, who has been with the City since March 2019, currently makes $67,000, and the outgoing Clerk makes $157,781.43.

Bryant will accrue Personal Time Off at the rate of 10 hours and 47 minutes per pay period or her current rate, whichever is greater. The City will pay for life insurance in an amount equal to approximately twice her salary.

If Bryant resigns as Interim City Clerk, she has to give two months’ notice and will be able to go back to her previous position of Agenda Coordinator or an equivalent position.

If the commission appoints a different Interim Clerk or a permanent Clerk, Bryant will also be able to go back to her previous position or an equivalent position. If that happens within a year, she will get her previous base salary plus any rate increase budgeted for that class of employee in the preceding year. If the City is unable to return her to her previous position or an equivalent position, she will be entitled to 20 weeks of salary as severance pay.

If the commission terminates Bryant for cause, the contract states that she will be able to return to the Agenda Coordinator or an equivalent position, although most of the examples listed would presumably provide cause for her termination from any City employment. The examples include gross negligence in the handling of City affairs; willful violation of the provisions of law; willfully disregarding a direct order or demand of the City Commission or a policy of the City; conduct unbecoming an Interim City Clerk; pleading guilty or nolo contendere to, or being found guilty by a jury or court of a misdemeanor involving physical violence, theft, driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs or possession or sale of drugs, or a felony, regardless of whether or not adjudication is withheld and probation imposed. She is not entitled to any severance pay if her employment is terminated for misconduct.

If she becomes unable to perform her duties due to death or disability, she will receive 12 weeks of salary as severance.

The motion at the June 15 meeting included paying for Bryant’s continued education toward becoming a Certified Municipal Clerk, but that provision is not in the contract. The contract states that the City will pay for professional dues and subscriptions that are “desirable for her continued professional participation, growth, and advancement, and for the good of the City.”

Bryant has a bachelor’s degree from UF (no major listed) and a J.D. from Loyola University College of Law. She worked as an attorney in Louisiana from 2003-2006, then became Assistant Director of the Center for Career Development at the UF Levin College of Law in 2008. From 2011-2019, she was Director of Children and Youth Ministries at Holy Trinity Episcopal Church in Gainesville, then she became an Executive Assistant for Gainesville City Commissioners in 2019. She became Acting Agenda Coordinator in September 2022 and Agenda Coordinator in February 2023; she also coordinates the advisory boards. She is a little over halfway through her educational credits in a program to become a Certified Municipal Clerk.