One nameplate was missing from the dais as the Auburndale City Commission held a special meeting the morning of Oct. 31.
The gold marker for City Manager Jeff Tillman had been removed, and Assistant City Manager Amy Palmer sat in his usual place. In a brief meeting, the City Commission officially ended Tillman’s four-year tenure and selected Palmer as his temporary replacement.
With no discussion, commissioners voted 5-0 to approve an employment separation agreement that City Attorney John Murphy said Tillman had proposed. Commissioners then voted unanimously to install Palmer as interim city manager, effective immediately.
Tillman is facing a charge of battery, a first-degree misdemeanor, over an incident that occurred in December 2024 at an Auburndale restaurant. He has pleaded not guilty.
Under the separation agreement, Auburndale will pay Tillman about $156,000, including 20 weeks of severance pay, or nearly $75,000. That severance payment is specified in the contract Tillman signed in 2021, after being promoted from assistant city manager. His annual salary was $181,160.
The city agreed to pay Tillman nearly $77,000 for unused sick time, vacation time, holiday and compensatory time, plus about $4,500 for 20 weeks of medical and dental coverage.
Under his contract, Tillman would not have been entitled to severance pay if he were dismissed for misconduct as defined in state statutes. Before the vote, Murphy said that the circumstances did not meet that legal threshold.
Murphy emphasized that Tillman suggested the separation agreement. He also released Auburndale from any liability or legal claims based on his performance.
Assistant is not a candidate
Two residents made public comments before the votes. Crystal Tijerina, a commissioner-elect after facing no opposition, asked how state law defines termination with cause and why that option did not apply to Tillman.
Mayor Dorothea Taylor Bogert reminded Tijerina that commissioners do not respond to public comments. Murphy did not address Tijerina’s questions.
Another resident, Carrie Griner, seemed to question the separation payments to Tillman, noting that the total amount is 289 times what she pays the city yearly in taxes.
Commissioner Keith Cowie made the motion to approve the separation agreement, and Bill Sterling offered a second. Commissioners Alex Cam and Jordan Helms joined those two and Bogert in voting for the proposal.
Speaking before the unanimous vote to appoint her as interim city manager, Palmer made clear that does not seek to be a permanent successor to Tillman.
“As the assistant city manager, I am willing to take the role of interim city manager for the benefit of the city,” Palmer said. “I feel like my tenure with the city would provide some continuity for the employees, for the current commission, for the new commission who’s coming on board. I view my role as temporary in nature, to be the person to work with the new commission, to help them find the new city manager.”
Palmer, 47, served as community development director for nine years before being promoted to assistant city manager in 2021.
A differently composed City Commission will likely select Tillman’s successor. Bogert’s term ends Dec. 1, as she runs for an open seat in the Florida House. Cowie and Sterling are also leaving the Commission, to be replaced by Travis Avery and Tijerina, who both earned seats without facing opponents.
Maulissa Braverman and Sean Levy are contending for Bogert’s Seat 3 position in the Nov. 4 election.
Praise for Tillman’s tenure
Auburndale’s charter sets no limit on the time that an interim city manager may serve, Palmer said.
“The business of the city is continuing,” Palmer said after the meeting. “There are so many good things going on right now in Auburndale, and that is thanks to Jeff Tillman’s leadership over the past 4½ years, and even Bobby Green’s role as city manager (before Tillman). There’s just always good stuff going on in the city, whether that’s economic development or public safety or everything that’s going on in the city.”
Palmer and Bogert declined to discuss the charge facing Tillman, but both lauded his performance.
“Everybody loves Jeff,” Palmer said. “We love Jeff as a city manager, and he was good at what he did. And so, we’re going to move on, and he really has set up the city and the City Commission for success, and we’re going to continue that work.”
Bogert expressed trust in Palmer’s ability to handle the interim role.
“I have full faith and confidence in Amy,” she said. “She’s extraordinary at her job, and I think she will help very much with the transition, not only with the commission, but also with the employees. I’m looking forward to working with her. My term ends Dec. 1, but for the next month, we have a lot of great things going on.”
Bogert was asked if she felt relieved that Tillman offered to separate from the city.
“I think that Mr. Tillman is a consummate professional, and I think that for him and his priorities was for the city of Auburndale to put their best foot forward,” she said. “And for him to make the suggestion — I have the utmost respect for him for that.”
Tillman, a 2003 graduate of Auburndale High School, began working for the city at age 16 after school and during summers, as The Ledger previously reported. Tillman, 41, was hired as Auburndale’s assistant city manager in 2016 and promoted in 2021 upon the retirement of longtime City Manager Bobby Green.
The battery charge against Tillman arose from an incident the night of Dec. 21 at the Brack Shack Bar and Grill. A waitress said that a drunken Tillman pulled her toward him in a hug and kissed her forehead against her will, according to reports from the Polk County Sheriff’s Office and the State Attorney’s Office for the 10th Judicial Circuit.
A pretrial conference is scheduled for Jan. 2 before County Judge David Stamey Jr.
Gary White can be reached at gary.white@theledger.com or 863-802-7518. Follow on X @garywhite13.
This article originally appeared on The Ledger: Auburndale Commission approves City Manager Jeff Tillman’s separation, chooses interim
Reporting by Gary White, Lakeland Ledger / The Ledger
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