The City of Sparks has voted to make the current police chief interim city manager.

The council approved an amendment to Police Chief Chris Crawforth's employment agreement to do both jobs temporarily.

This comes after the city council fired former City Manager Neil Krutz last week.

He will be acting city manager until March 31st.

He is being paid nearly $50,000 extra for taking on the role.

UPDATE: SEPTEMBER 6, 2023 

The Sparks City Council voted on Tuesday to terminate City Manager Neil Krutz’s employment agreement for cause.

City Council Member Paul Anderson made the following motion, which passed unanimously: “I move to terminate the Contract of Employment of Sparks City Manager (AC-5553), as amended, between the City of Sparks and City Manager Neil Krutz with cause for the reasons and testimony of the Council members today including but not limited to violations of Sections 1(A), 13(B), and 7(D).”

On September 11th, the Sparks City Council will consider an amendment to the employment agreement with Police Chief Chris Crawforth. If approved, the amendment would name Chief Crawforth as acting City Manager until March 31, 2024, and provide additional compensation for those extra duties.

“I’d like to do a national search for a new City Manager, and that takes time. I have full faith in Chief Crawforth’s ability to lead the City forward while we do the work of finding our next City Manager,” said Mayor Ed Lawson.

Last month, the City of Sparks placed Krutz on paid administrative leave.

At a Special City Council Meeting on August 25, Sparks Mayor Ed Lawson requested a future agenda item for the City Council to consider terminating  Krutz’s employment contract.

UPDATE: AUGUST 25, 2023 

The Sparks City Council unanimously rejected moving forward with buying out City Manager Neil Krutz's contract on Friday.

Sparks Mayor Ed Lawson requested an item over terminating the City's current contract with Krutz be added to a future City of Sparks City Council meeting. 

ORIGNAL STORY: AUGUST 24

Sparks City leaders are expected to discuss buying out the remainder of City Manager Neil Krutz's contract.

You may remember us telling you how the city council voted against firing Krutz back in May.

One issue brought up was how he handled alleged criminal charges against the, at the time, newly appointed Fire Chief Mark Lawson.

Lawson later ended up suing both Krutz and the City.

Mayor Ed Lawson ultimately decided Krutz should keep his job.

It's not exactly clear what, or who, brought on this change.

Krutz's contract with the City is currently set to end June of 2025.

The City would pay $600,000 to buy out his contract - if approved.

The meeting starts at 3pm and will be livstreamed on YouTube.