Cape Coral City Council voted to terminate city manager’s contract earlier than expected

CAPE CORAL, Florida. A quick vote by the Cape Coral City Council left city manager Rob Hernandez out of a job.

Hernandez was originally supposed to leave his post in August, but the board fired him today instead.

Mayor John Gunter says during a score that the city manager scored 3.8 out of 5, they decided his contract would not be renewed. But why did they decide to oust him so suddenly? No answers other than that it was in the best interests of the city.

It took the city council less than three minutes at the start of the meeting to vote on him.

The city manager’s contract was coming to an end on August 12, but the majority of the city council decided that today should be his last day. Almost without explanation.

Council member Keith Long came up with the motion, stating that it was in the city’s interest not to discuss the reasons for Hernandez’s dismissal. There was no discussion, so the matter immediately went to a vote. 5 “yes” and 3 “no”.

The mayor says this about the sudden shooting today.

“For me, I just thought it was in the best interest of the city to move on,” Mayor Gunther said. and I know that the city manager will be working with the staff during this period of time.”

Now as part of the contract, since he is being fired for no reason, Hernandez will receive 20 weeks of severance pay, which is almost 5 months of his annual salary. Which, according to the city’s website, shows that he makes over $243,000 a year.

We asked Hernandez for comment, but he declined before leaving the meeting tonight.

As for what’s next for the city, the mayor says there will be a special meeting on Friday to discuss who will become acting city manager. This meeting will be an open meeting at 8:00 am in room 220A.