The Scottsbluff City Council unanimously voted to terminate City Manager Dustin Rief’s contract following his one year job performance evaluation Tuesday evening.
Mayor Jeanne McKerrigan said after their 75 minute closed session, it was determined Rief had an unfavorable performance evaluation.
All five council members voted in favor of terminating the contract, but councilmember Nathan Green appeared torn before casting his vote.
McKerrigan said after discussing with him the deficiencies in his administrative qualifications, it did not appear they could be improved upon. She moved to terminate his employment contract immediately and approve any severance agreement.
City Finance Director Liz Loutzenhiser and Police Chief Kevin Spencer have been designated to fill the position of City Manager until a permanent replacement can be found.
Rief was one of three finalists for the position in the fall of 2020 along with current Alliance City Manager Seth Sorensen. Rief was selected as the top choice and was hired in December, 2020 with a March 1, 2021 start date.
During his six month evaluation in September, the council was all-in-all pleased with Rief’s first six months on the job, but several members said more streamlined communication down the road would be beneficial.
Following the council member’s evaluation’s, Rief’s wife Jacqueline took the podium for about four minutes, and accused one of the councilmembers of unethical behavior. Afterwards, Rief requested that the council consider giving him a five percent raise based on his contract agreement, which was later approved.
The Scottsbluff City Manager position has been somewhat turbulent since the departure of longtime City Manager Rick Kuckkahn. In 2016 Kuckkhan retired and Assistant City Manager Nathan Johnson was promoted. Johnson accepted a similar position in Colorado at the latter part of 2019, and Kuckkahn came back on board on an interim basis until Rief started in March of 2021.
The City of Scottsbluff will begin the process of finding the next City Manager in the coming weeks.
