St. Charles Contract Talks With Townsend Enter 3rd Month

City Administrator Brian Townsend’s contract is extended a third time by the City Council.

The St. Charles City Council on Monday extended the contract of City Administrator Brian Townsend by another 30 days, the third such extension since his contract expired May 6, 2013.

Talks have been ongoing ever since, most likely occurring during recent City Council executive sessions. Townsend’s contract ended in May as the new City Council was seated after the April consolidated elections.

The council’s unanimous approval of a 30-day extension to Townsend’s contract mirrored the previous contract extensions the council approved on May 6 and again on June 3, 2013. Each extension has been recommended by Mayor Raymond Rogina.

Townsend shrugged off the 30-days extensions simply as part of the process.

Mayor Rogina, who would not discuss the specifics of the contract negotiations, said people should not read too much into the amount of time being spent to hammer out a new contract.

“It’s a back-and-forth process,” he said. “But there’s no rush to judgment here … and you should not read too much into this.

“Negotiations should stay private,” he continued. “Once there’s a contract, we can talk about it.”

Townsend was hired by former Mayor Donald DeWitte in 2005 and received a new contract in 2009. Open the Books Transparency Portal, which uses the Freedom of Information Act to compile databases on government spending, including public employee pay, lists Townend’s 2012 salary as $200,744.