Belleman to Receive More Than $190,000 in Separation Agreement With East Lansing
At Tuesday night’s City Council meeting, the council unanimously voted to approve a separation agreement with City Manager Robert Belleman, who resigned from his position less than a month after a city employee publicly accused him of sexual harassment.
Belleman’s resignation comes less than three years into his tenure, and about nine months after the City Council approved a three-year contract extension in September of 2025.
According to the contract, Belleman is to be paid his full one-year salary plus benefits if he is terminated from his position. While Belleman was not fired – he resigned and reached a separation agreement with the city – Councilmember Kerry Ebersole Singh told East Lansing Info via text that Belleman’s severance package is “slightly north of” his $190,000 salary when benefits are factored in.
Communication from ELi to the city’s HR department, communications director and City Attorney Carlito Young requesting the severance agreement have not been answered as of the time of publication.
Per Belleman’s 2025 contract, had he been terminated from his position, the council would have needed to provide a 30-day written notice. This period was avoided by the city reaching a separation agreement with Belleman, Singh clarified.
Longtime city employee Annette Irwin named interim city manager.
Belleman’s resignation came less than a month after East Lansing Grants Coordinator Erica Dziedzic-Hernandez accused him of sexual harassment and bullying during a City Council meeting.
The city subsequently released the investigation into Dziedzic-Hernandez’s complaint, which did not find evidence to support claims of sexual harassment and bullying but did raise concerns about East Lansing’s workplace, as investigators found a lack of comfort among the city’s leadership team and multiple employees said Belleman can be especially stern towards female employees.
The investigation into Belleman was completed in November 2025, six months before Dziedzic-Hernandez publicly disclosed the complaint. At the special meeting where the council voted to release the investigation, Mayor Erik Altmann stated support for the city manager.
“Everybody deserves process. Everybody has rights,” Altmann said on May 21. “That applies to complainants and it applies to respondents, and it’s a relief for me to finally be able to make this statement to the public, that these claims were unfounded.
“I look forward to continuing to work with City Manager Belleman in his position and I offer my support to him,” Altmann said.
However, days later on May 26 the council voted to put Belleman on leave and hired a different law firm to answer questions raised during a closed-session at the meeting.
The Council voted to continue Belleman’s leave at a June 2 meeting as an investigation proceeded. Then on Tuesday, council voted to approve a separation agreement with Belleman, who voluntarily resigned from his post.
“City employees and taxpayers deserve a government that maintains a high standard of conduct and delivers high quality services,” Altmann said at Tuesday’s meeting. “That is why we acted quickly to open a new chapter for our community.”
The city will now search for a new long-term city manager, a process that is expected to take months.
Before Belleman started as city manager in September 2023, the city reached a separation agreement with former City Manager George Lahanas in January 2023. The Michigan Municipal League was paid $19,000 to conduct the search that brought Belleman’s candidacy.
Starting June 22, former Planning, Building and Housing Director Annette Irwin will work as East Lansing’s interim city manager.
Irwin retired in March after working for the city for nearly 30 years. Shortly after Altmann announced Irwin will be interim city manager, she spoke at Tuesday’s meeting, praising the city staff and saying employees spend far more time making the city work than people realize.
“They [city employees] care about the work they do because they know the residents who live here,” Irwin said. “The people that are picking up your trash, they wave back when the kids are waving at the cool, big truck. And they get to know and watch some of those kids grow up … So they’re part of their life.
“This is a great place to be and a great community,” she continued.