South Portland City Manager Ted Jankowski, who abruptly left his post after eight months, is due a $43,600 severance payout under the terms of his contract, according to Mayor Claude Morgan and city council members.

The payout covers four months’ salary, accrued vacation time, a four-month health insurance plan, and the balance of Jankowski’s account for moving expenses. Jankowski’s yearly salary was $104,000.

The council was scheduled to formally accept Jankowski’s resignation and approve the payout at a special meeting Wednesday night.

Jankowski submitted an official letter of resignation on May 24. He hasn’t been at work since May 17, and Morgan said last week that he expected Jankowski would be taking sick days until his resignation became official.

Yet, the contract’s terms for collecting the payout seem to deepen the mystery of Jankowski’s sudden departure from City Hall. A contract supplied by the City Clerk’s Office states that Jankowski can collect severance if the council terminates or violates his contract – but not if he voluntarily resigns.

The contract states, if “the Manager voluntarily resigns, he shall not be entitled to salary after the effective date of the resignation or to severance benefits,” except for accrued vacation and sick time.

The contract also requires 30 days’ notice by the city manager if he voluntarily resigns.

If the City Council chooses to terminate the manager, according to the language in the contract, the city is “to pay the manager within 30 days of said termination a cash payment equal to two calendar months of compensation and all unused, accrued vacation time.”

Morgan said the council has the flexibility to provide more compensation than what the agreement spells out. When questioned again about whether Jankowski voluntarily resigned, Morgan said, “It was a negotiated settlement. That is all I can say.”

A separation agreement that the council was expected to approve Wednesday, after The Current’s deadline, also allows Jankowski to seek unemployment benefits. By Maine law, a former employee is ineligible for unemployment benefits if he or she voluntarily quits a job without “good cause attributable to the employment.”

Asked if the council requested Jankowski’s resignation, Morgan said, “I wouldn’t comment on that.”

City Councilor Jim Soule said, “All I know is that he is getting the (the payout). I can’t comment further.”

City Attorney Mary Kahl said she did not draft the documents and referred questions to Geoffrey Hole at Bernstein Shur, a legal firm in Portland.

“I am not going to have any comments in any direction,” Hole said Tuesday.

Jankowski was unavailable for comment. He did not return phone calls. No one answered the door at the Deake Street home he rents near Willard Beach.

Morgan, who described the city manager’s contract as “straightforward,” said confidentiality laws preclude him or any other council member from discussing the reasons for Jankowski leaving his post.

“Ted steered the city through difficult waters and into safe waters,” Morgan said. As example, he noted Jankowski’s “aggressive leadership” and “assertiveness at the table” in improving revenue sharing with state and federal agencies.

“Ted came in with an impressive resume and a set of skills … to get us involved in important discussions that will bear fruit for a long time,” Morgan said.

Jankowski had come under fire for his management style and a perception that he discouraged department heads from discussing city projects with councilors. Jankowski said he was only trying to bring standard business practice to operations at City Hall.

Soule also criticized Jankowski for not disclosing in his proposed 2007-2008 city budget that a portion of the city manager’s salary would be covered by special tax increment finance fees (TIFS), which routinely are used for road repairs and other capital improvements.

“I’m not surprised about his resignation, given that he did some things in particular – that he misstated information in respect to the budget,” Soule said this week.

Jankowski’s quick departure followed an increased focus on his performance.

• On May 14, the council gave the city manager a six-month evaluation, a departure from the usual one-year job review because of concerns some councilors expressed about low morale at City Hall. Jankowski had publicly opposed the evaluation, but said he would comply with it. The review was done by the council behind closed doors.

• On May 21, Jankowski did not show up for the City Council meeting, and Morgan announced that the city manager was taking a sick day. At that meeting, the City Council met in executive session for personnel reasons, but declined to elaborate.

• On May 24, Morgan hastily announced Jankowski’s resignation, after the city manager had not been at City Hall for several days. Assistant City Manager James Gailey assumed Jankowski’s duties, but was not scheduled to be formally appointed acting city manager until this week.

In a bluntly worded resignation letter that Morgan released last week, Jankowski wrote that the terms of his contract left too much uncertainty about job security and his future as city manager.

“In retrospect, as the first outsider in the job in over 30 years, I should not have accepted the position last September as an ‘at will’ employee. As you know, the city’s charter does not allow for binding term contracts – the manager can only serve on an indefinite basis.”

Jankowski wrote he was quitting his post to seek other employment that “allowed for more long-term predictability relative to future employment.”

Short tenures and abrupt resignations also marked Jankowski’s previous two positions prior to moving to South Portland to become city manager.

Jankowski left his job as assistant city manager and chief operating officer for Worcester, Mass., in 2006 after seven months on the job.

Jankowski’s leave came without notice and left the public and press surprised. Worcester City Manager Michael O’Brien told reporters at the time that he asked Jankowski to resign, but declined to elaborate.

“I must make tough decisions in the very best interest of the city,” O’Brien told the Worcester Telegram.

Jankowski later received a $28,000 payout from the city, which was vacation pay owed to him under the terms of his contract.

In February 2005, Jankowski resigned as chief executive officer of the Greater Boston Real Estate Board after a little more than a year on the job. His departure from the nonprofit trade group also came with little notice.

The group stated that the reason was “due to differences of opinion with the board of directors.” The board and Jankowski declined to comment further.

Greg Vasil, the board’s current CEO, said recently that “we can just confirm that Ted was here a year. I am unable to comment further on his tenure.”

Here is a breakdown of the $43,549.05 separation agreement proposed by the city of South Portland for Ted Jankowski, who announced his resignation as city manager. Source: city of South Portland.

• $34,664, representing four months of regular salary;

• $4,133.33 for 77.5 hours of accrued vacation time;

• $3,551.72 for four months of COBRA health insurance coverage;

• $1,200 to cover the balance of Jankowski’s account for moving expenses.