Outgoing Interim Cincinnati City Manager John Curp is leaving city employment and taking a sizable severance payment with him.
The contract council approved in January promised Curp a senior management level position making a certain amount of money or a lump sum payment; he was one of two finalists for the job.
Newly confirmed City Manager Sheryl Long announced Friday Curp will not have a new city job.
“A settlement was reached that all parties recognize is in the best interest of the city,” Long said in a memo to the mayor and members of council. “Mr. Curp will continue to be available as a resource for the city.”
Curp will leave with a total payout of $436,282.59:
- $404,444.58 is equivalent to the salary Curp would have received through July 30, 2024, if he had been offered a position with a salary of at least 75% his salary as Interim City Manager, as well as the cost of health insurance coverage for six months
- $31,838.01 for unused vacation time (176.5 hours) and sick time (66 hours).
Curp was a partner at the law firm Blank Rome until he left to become interim city manager in mid-January. Mayor Aftab Pureval appointed him to that position when Paula Boggs Muething announced her resignation.
"I'm giving up a lucrative law practice to step back into government," Curp told council in January. "And giving that up, from my personal perspective, required that there be a commitment to me to provide me some time to accommodate a career if things went different ways."
Council approved Curp’s contract January 5, with an initial salary of about $265,000 a year. That increased to about $273,000 a year when council approved the city budget in June. Long’s salary is about $287,000 a year.
Curp served as city solicitor from 2008 to 2014, serving under Mark Mallory; he was demoted about month into Mayor John Cranley's term, then left shortly after.
