Leelanau County Will Pay Dyer Nearly $70,000 For 'Mutual Separation Agreement'

Leelanau County will pay former County Administrator Jim Dyer nearly $70,000 to satisfy the terms of a new separation agreement, The Ticker has learned. While Dyer had been on paid leave since June 9, due to accusations of “financial misconduct, circumvention of board authority, and a pattern of intimidation,” the agreement describes his exit as a “mutually agreed separation without cause,” and even stipulates that the county will provide him with a letter of recommendation for his next job.

The Leelanau County Board of Commissioners announced late Wednesday afternoon that it had entered into a “mutual separation agreement” with Dyer, though the initial press release disclosed no specific details about the terms of the agreement. Dyer had told The Ticker 24 hours earlier that he was “done with these people,” the first firm acknowledgement from either party that he wouldn’t be returning to his position as administrator.

Interim County Administrator Lauren Cypher, who previously served as Dyer’s administrative assistant, subsequently provided The Ticker with the full 12-page separation agreement. According to that agreement, the separation was effective at 5pm last Monday, July 20, though Dyer didn’t sign it until this Tuesday. Board Chair Steve Yoder signed the agreement on Wednesday, making it official.

The document sketches out a five-figure severance package for Dyer, with terms consistent with his original employment agreement dated March 18, 2025. Specifically, Dyer will receive six months of his annual salary as a lump-sum severance payment, as well as a final contribution to his 457 retirement account “in an amount equal to 9 percent of the gross severance payment,” and a buyout of all his remaining personal or vacation time.

Dyer was making $127,000 annually, or $58.80 per hour. Per the terms of the separation agreement, those numbers work out to $60,438.92 for a half-year of severance pay, $5,439.50 in additional retirement plan contributions, and $2,564,42 for 45 hours of leftover personal time. All told, Dyer will receive a grand total of $68,442.85 to vacate the county administrator’s office.

Under the agreement, the county also consents to pay for up to 90 days of COBRA premiums “to continue [Dyer’s] current health insurance coverage” after his active employee health coverage ends. The county will be off the hook if Dyer should “become covered under another group health plan or other dependent coverage during that period.”

The end of Dyer’s tenure makes him the third county administrator to come and go since Chet Janik retired at the end of 2022, following a decade-plus stint in the role. Deb Allen held the position from December 2022 to April 2024. She was followed by former Traverse City mayor Richard Lewis, who served on an interim basis until Dyer started on March 31, 2025.

Dyer’s time in the job proved tumultuous. He came under fire last spring for seeking a seat on the Cherryland Electric Board – a pursuit some critics contended would have been a conflict of interest. A few months later, former Finance Director Cathy Hartesvelt – who Dyer eventually fired for insubordination – filed a complaint alleging that his treatment of her had violated county policy. Dyer was absolved of any wrongdoing in that case, but other similar complaints followed.

This past March, former finance department account clerk Elizabeth Gray wrote an exit letter to the Board of Commissioners, accusing Dyer of “physical intimidation,” “administrative negligence,” and “disregard for the stability of the finance department,” among other grievances. Then, in June, Finance Director Rio Risbridger filed a whistleblower complaint against Dyer, alleging “a pattern of conduct…that constitutes financial misconduct, circumvention of board authority, and a pattern of intimidation.” The latter complaint is what led commissioners to place Dyer on paid administrative leave on June 9. The board then hired outside counsel to conduct investigations into both claims.

The county has not released the full results of either investigation, but did approve FOIA requests last week pertaining to letters sent to Gray and Risbridger by Cohl, Stoker & Toskey P.C., the law firm that carried out the investigations. The letters give brief overviews of the investigations and their findings.

Writing to Gray, Cohl, Stoker & Toskey noted that its review of her allegations “did not support a finding that the alleged conduct constituted a sex-based hostile work environment or disparate treatment because of sex.” More generally, though, the review did substantiate some “workplace climate, communication, governance, and employee-relations concerns” raised by Gray’s letter.

Writing to Risbridger, outside counsel concluded that “certain concerns” raised in her complaint did amount to “protected activity under the Michigan Whistleblowers’ Protection Act,” including “concerns relating to potential compliance with the Michigan Wage and Fringe Benefits Act…including concerns regarding final paycheck and wage deduction practices.” Findings from the investigation “supported certain of the concerns described” in Risbridger’s complaint, as well as “additional operational, communication, governance, and employee relations concerns.”

Notably, the independent investigations and their findings are not invoked in Dyer’s separation agreement.

“The parties agree that the Employee's separation shall be characterized as a mutually agreed separation without cause,” the agreement reads. “The Employer will provide a mutually acceptable letter of recommendation, approved by the Employee and the Board Chair or other County representative designated by the Board.” Language elsewhere in the documents notes that the agreement “is not an admission of wrongdoing, liability, violation of law, improper conduct, or breach of any duty by either party…”