North Las Vegas Mayor John Lee signed a handwritten agreement outlining the terms of ousted city manager Qiong Liu’s departure from the city amidst a power struggle between her and one of the mayor’s top allies in city government last month.

The agreement, signed on the same day in January that City Manager Qiong Liu fired one of Lee’s top political allies, Ryann Juden, was released to The Nevada Independent following a records request for any memorandums or separation agreements agreed to between Liu and the city.

The handwritten agreement indicates a level of Lee’s direct involvement with Liu’s departure that he has previously downplayed, most recently at last week’s City Council meeting where the board voted 4-1 to move forward with a for-cause firing of Liu over allegations that she tried to give herself a retroactive pay raise. Lee told reporters after the council meeting last week that while he had met with Liu several times before her departure from the city on Jan. 10, his power was limited to what actions the City Council should take.

“There were never any deals,” he said in an interview last week after the council meeting. “A mayor can only talk to you. He has to get five votes, it’s obvious. When it comes to these kinds of personnel issues, you have HR — I don’t have any authority to do anything like that.”

The agreement — signed on a piece of lined paper by Lee, Liu and interim HR director Cass Palmer — outlines several terms of Liu’s departure from the city, including a 6-month pause in terminating city directors without cause and several separation conditions, including:

• A termination date of Feb. 2
• 12 months of pay in bi-weekly allotments
• Medical benefits and payments to PERS
• All “terms and conditions” in Liu’s existing contract

The handwritten agreement doesn’t acknowledge the issue of retroactive pay increase, which city officials said last week Liu tried to force through without council knowledge or approval. Liu said at the council meeting last week that the pay raise was an administrative error that didn’t require council approval to fix, calling the issue a “personal vendetta” against her from Lee.

North Las Vegas’s city charter gives its five-member City Council hiring and firing powers over two positions — the city manager and city attorney. Other administrative positions in city government typically oversee all other city employees.

Liu fired Juden — a former campaign staffer and longtime political ally of Lee — on Jan. 9, saying that hiring him as assistant city manager had been her “biggest mistake” given the “wide-spread fear and damage he has brought to the organization.”

But Liu rescinded the firing a day later, on Jan. 10, and agreed to take an immediate leave of absence until February. About a week later, Juden was appointed acting city manager by the council in a unanimous vote.

A separate 3-page Memorandum of Understanding, also drafted on Jan. 10 and signed by Liu, Palmer and City Clerk Catherine Raynor, outlined several of the terms mentioned in the handwritten document but moved the date of departure back to Feb. 9 and authorized a $25,000 payment for retroactive wages related to Liu’s 2015 merit increase.

The MOU also stated that Liu’s resignation wouldn’t be accepted unless it was ratified by the City Council in the form of a severance agreement. The council never brought up that agreement, voting last week to terminate Liu with cause over allegations surrounding the retroactive pay increase.

City spokeswoman Delen Goldberg said last week that Liu was under investigation by law enforcement, but declined to identify which specific agency was involved.

Handwritten MOU between Liu, Lee and Palmer by Riley Snyder on Scribd

Memorandum of Understanding (Agenda Item #11 - NLV CC Meeting on 02.07.18) by Riley Snyder on Scribd