Killeen Hires a New City Manager at $260,000. One Council Member Balked at the Contract.

Killeen's City Council voted 6-1 on Oct. 8 to hire Dr. Marie Peoples as city manager. She takes over on Monday, Nov. 9, from Kent Cagle, who is retiring. Councilwoman Mellisa Brown cast the only no vote, and she said her objection was to the contract, not the candidate.

The search

The city received 118 applications, and 41 candidates met the minimum qualifications, according to a city news release. The council selected four finalists in September and interviewed them Sept. 22-23, KWTX reported.

Peoples was most recently city manager of Webster Groves, Missouri. She has also served as deputy county manager and chief health officer in Coconino County, Arizona, and as public health director in Cole County, Missouri. She holds a Ph.D. in public health epidemiology. Assistant City Manager Laurie Wilson is serving as interim city manager until she arrives.

The contract

According to city documents reported by the Killeen Daily Herald, Peoples will receive:

• An annual salary of $260,000

• A $7,200 yearly car allowance

• A $15,000 contribution to a 457 retirement plan, rising to $18,000 in years two and three and $20,000 after that

• $15,000 in relocation help and up to $3,500 a month in temporary housing for three months

• 720 hours of sick leave up front, which she can cash out, plus 20 weeks of severance pay if she leaves

Brown said Cagle did not start with most of those benefits. She said the seven council members never met together to discuss the package, the Herald reported. Resident Jamie Carrol called the terms "crazy" and said, "That's not remotely responsible spending."

Other members pushed back, according to the Herald. Councilman Charles Kimble called the package "fair" and "not excessive." Councilwoman Debbie Nash-King said Brown should have raised her concerns behind closed doors. Former councilman Ken Wilkerson said Peoples should not be "picked apart" after the selection process was finished.

Questions from Missouri

Peoples, appearing by Zoom, addressed criticism from her time in Webster Groves. That included a censure from the International Association of Fire Fighters, which she said "is concerning"; she told the council she learned of it on Facebook and was never able to read it, the Herald reported. She also addressed a case in which two city officials were caught misusing a city credit card, and said the fact that they were caught showed the process worked.

She will be judged on that standard. A generous contract is not proof of bad judgment, but it raises the bar. Killeen residents should expect a city manager who earns every dollar of it, and a council that tells them plainly what it agreed to pay.

Hero photo: Larry D. Moore via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0, cropped and resized.