DELAWARE — In four months, Paul Brake will no longer be the city manager of Delaware.
City Council voted 5-2 during a special meeting Monday night not to renew Brake’s employment agreement for another year. His contract was the lone item on the agenda.
“It’s been a privilege to serve this organization, to be your city manager, to trust me to carry out the strategic goals in the day-to-day operations,” Brake said after the vote.
“I appreciate the support in the audience here of the department directors. Really, everything is a team effort and we have accomplished a lot, but I respect the council’s decision.”
Councilman Kyle Bogan made the motion not to renew Brake’s agreement, and Councilwoman Linsey Griffith seconded it. Councilman Kevin Rider and Mayor Carolyn Kay Riggle cast the two dissenting votes.
“I think we’ve had a good run,” Riggle told Delaware Source after the meeting while standing next to Brake.
“We’ve got four more months with him, and we’ll just have to get busy and try and find somebody new. It’s not going to be easy.”
Council deliberated through August
The decision followed several executive sessions throughout August as council discussed Brake’s future, including a Saturday morning session Aug. 15 that lasted more than three hours.
During Monday’s meeting, Rider explained that the closed-door meetings to discuss Brake’s renewal were out of respect for him.
“There were long discussions over this, and in part, there were some questions about why discussions would be held in closed session. I had to look that up, myself,” Rider said.
“The first reason is somewhat obvious: it allows for council to have candid discussions about various parts of the position.
“My first response to reading that is, ‘Well, why can’t that be public?’ And the second bullet, if you will, kind of explained that,” he said. “It is out of outright respect in part for the person being discussed and that it allows council to share feelings.”
Council selected Brake from 17 applications and four finalists before the city hired him on Aug. 1, 2024 to succeed longtime City Manager Tom Homan. The search took five months, according to a city press release announcing Brake’s hiring.
The selection process also included feedback from a community panel with representatives from Ohio Wesleyan University, Delaware City Schools, Delaware County, the Mid-Ohio Regional Planning Commission, Sustainable Delaware, the African American Heritage Council, the Strand Theatre Board, Delaware Chamber of Commerce and downtown businesses.
Brake initially earned $192,500 annually. His current employment agreement, approved by council in October 2025, increased his salary to $200,200.
Riggle told Delaware Source it could take up to six months to find Brake’s replacement.
Brake’s last day as city manager will be Dec. 31, 2026.
A change from less than one year ago
Monday’s decision marks a significant change from less than a year ago, when City Council unanimously approved a new one-year employment agreement with Brake.
Council voted 7-0 on Oct. 13, 2025, to approve an agreement keeping Brake in the position through Dec. 31, 2026. The agreement included a 4% raise, bringing his annual salary to $200,200.
Under the agreement, council could renew Brake for additional one-year terms but was required to notify him at least 60 days before the end of the year if it decided against doing so.
The agreement also makes a distinction between nonrenewal and termination, stating that a decision not to renew “shall not be considered a breach hereof or a termination with or without cause.”
Brake is expected to remain city manager through Dec. 31 unless he voluntarily resigns before then.
Had council instead terminated Brake without cause before the end of his contract, the agreement called for the city to pay him 12 months of base salary.
2025 evaluation process for council and staff
Delaware Source filed a public records request with the city earlier this month for Brake’s personnel file and previous performance evaluations.
The city’s 2025 evaluation process included feedback from City Council members and city staff. The evaluations reviewed by Delaware Source were largely positive, though some respondents identified areas where they believed Brake could improve.
Council members evaluated Brake in five categories: community and public engagement, executive leadership and organizational management, strategic planning, relationship with City Council and intergovernmental representation. Staff evaluated him in the same areas, with their relationship category focused instead on leadership and staff.
Each category included a series of questions scored on a five-point scale, with 5 being the highest rating.
Every council member’s ratings fell between 3 and 5 across all five categories, with several also writing comments praising Brake’s performance during his first year.
Staff evaluations followed a similar pattern, with ratings of 4 and 5 appearing more frequently than ratings of 1 through 3.
In response to a public records request from Delaware Source, the city said the 2026 evaluation process remains ongoing and that it would continue providing responsive records “on a rolling basis as appropriate and as those records are completed.”
Evaluations showed praise — and areas for improvement
Several council members praised Brake’s management style and performance during his first year.
Councilman Adam Haynes wrote that Brake was a “good manager” who led others well and balanced a council with differing viewpoints.
“You’re doing well Paul! Keep it up!!!” Haynes wrote.
Former councilman Kent Shafer cited Brake’s experience, willingness to learn Delaware’s approach and openness to feedback as strengths.
“I think for just being a little past one year, I think Paul has adapted well overall,” Shafer wrote.
Rider wrote that Brake “operates very well with council, always available and responsive, and dedicated to fulfilling the wishes of council.”
But council members also identified recurring areas for improvement, particularly communication, information sharing and Brake’s visibility in the community.
Councilwoman Catlin Frazier wrote that she had learned about “several serious issues happening in Delaware on Facebook,” which she called “not ideal for a city leader.” She also said Brake often contacted her only within a few hours of a council meeting, limiting opportunities for collaboration.
Riggle wrote at the time that Brake had “come a long way these past 6 months with communications,” but said she wanted to see him attend more community events and strengthen relationships outside the city.
Staff praised calm approach, raised coordination concerns
City Council also sought feedback from the city’s department directors and chiefs as part of Brake’s 2025 evaluation.
Six distinct staff evaluations appear in the records provided to Delaware Source, although the responses generally do not identify the employees who completed them.
Several employees praised Brake for a calm, collaborative management style that gave department leaders autonomy.
“Paul always remains very calm and never overreacts to situations going on,” one employee wrote. “It appears that he thinks things through carefully before reacting. He lets his directors be directors and make decisions based on their expertise in their respective fields.”
Another described Brake’s strengths as including “integrity/ethics,” “open communication,” “pragmatism” and an ability to avoid micromanagement.
But some of the characteristics employees viewed as strengths were seen differently by others.
“Paul has a very easygoing approach and doesn’t appear to get ruffled when confronted with bad news or situation,” one evaluator wrote. “There are times where this approach may come off as not engaged.”
Other evaluations called for clearer priorities, better coordination among city departments and more decisive direction from Brake on interdepartmental issues.
One of the six staff evaluators was significantly more critical, questioning Brake’s integrity and saying his leadership needed improvement in areas including communication, active listening and decisiveness.
That evaluator also wrote that “the workplace bullying needs to stop” and said improvement could be measured by “the manner in which he engages with those being bullied.”
The evaluator did not identify who was allegedly involved in the bullying or provide details about specific incidents.
The personnel file provided to Delaware Source contained no disciplinary records for Brake.
Brake looks back on tenure and four months ahead
Before coming to Delaware, Brake was the city manager in Royal Oak, Michigan. He previously worked as a city or county manager in Morgantown, West Virginia; Grand Blanc, Michigan; and Shiawassee County, Michigan.
He told Delaware Source he’s worked in local government management for 38 years, with Delaware being his fourth city manager position.
“Each community has been unique in its challenges, but I am very proud of the accomplishments, bringing impactful change and we have many projects that are underway here,” Brake said.
“I feel confident we have a tremendous team here that will continue success.”
As Delaware’s chief executive officer, Brake oversees nearly 400 employees and an operating budget of approximately $100 million. City operations include police and fire departments, the municipal airport and water and wastewater utilities.
Brake pointed to several accomplishments during his two years in Delaware, including the city’s credit rating improving from Aa2 to Aa1, his role in PPG’s expansion and the hiring of five department directors. He also cited the city’s strategic planning and organization around challenging issues.
“So the record stands, that what I’ve done and what I’ll continue to do in the remainder of my tenure here,” Brake said. “Again, I respect council’s decision and am very proud of what I have done.”
Brake said he intends to remain focused on city business during his final four months, beginning with the 2027 budget.
“We’re just going through the review of the capital improvement plan, but we’re working on the operating budget,” he said. “That’ll be coming out in late October and through October and November, to make sure we’re well on track.”
Brake also highlighted how the city is working on ambulance billing, making sure the city solidifies a revenue source to support fire and EMS services.
“If I look at my calendar, I could probably come up with many others,” Brake said.
“There’s no rest for the wicked here.”
