Fat Exit Package Proposed for Ty Ross

The Fernandina Beach City Commission will be presented today with a proposed severance package totaling $50,000 for ex-City Manager Ty Ross, who resigned last Friday after holding the job for nine weeks.

Ross verbally resigned following intense scrutiny over his behavior involving an alcohol-related bicycle accident on Oct. 29 and his subsequent failure to inform city commissioners of the incident in which police were called and Ross was driven home.

City Attorney Tammi Bach said she had negotiated six weeks of pay as severance despite Ross' contract with the city that states if he resigned he would get only his salary to the date of his resignation. That sum totals $26,710 in the draft settlement.

But Ross will also get $10,384 in vacation and accrued sick time. The proposal also lists $7,500 for relocation expenses, although Ross never formally moved his family from Tennessee to the city. He would also receive $2,596 in retirement benefits and $2,837 in FICA.

The total proposed cost to the city for severance is $50,773.

The severance package will be discussed at a special meeting of the city commission at 5 p.m. along with next steps to name a successor to Ross as city manager. Deputy City Manager Charlie George is acting as the interim city manager.