East Lansing Received Second Complaint About Belleman; To Tell Future Employers of His “Satisfactory” Performance

The separation agreement between East Lansing and former City Manager Robert Belleman stipulates that the city will pay Belleman more than $220,000 and provide a written reference affirming that his satisfactory performance warranted a contract extension.

The city and Belleman parted ways June 16, less than a month after East Lansing Grants Coordinator Erica Dziedzic-Hernandez accused him of sexual harassment and other abusive behavior during the May 19 City Council meeting. The council later released the complaint investigation report, which did not find evidence to support her claims of bullying and sexual harassment, but employee interviews did reveal issues within the city’s workplace like a lack of comfort among city leaders and a perception that Belleman picked favorites. 

Documents obtained by ELi through Freedom of Information Act requests show that Dziedzic-Hernandez complained about Belleman again the day after her City Council remarks, alleging she was excluded by Belleman from a leadership meeting in retaliation for speaking out. In a memo, she wrote that Belleman’s assistant emailed staff stating only supervisors should attend the meeting, which Dziedzic-Hernandez said she routinely attended.

Dziedzic-Hernandez said in her memo she had been looking forward to the leadership meeting for weeks and believes non-supervisory staff members were excluded as retaliation for her comments the night before. She decided to attend the meeting anyway. Later in the afternoon, Dziedzic-Hernandez said she overheard Belleman describe her attitude as “defiant.”

While the investigation into Dziedzic-Hernandez’s initial complaint was completed about six months before she spoke at the council meeting and Mayor Erik Altmann initially voiced support for Belleman, the council voted to place the city manager on leave at its May 26 meeting and approved the separation agreement on June 16.

East Lansing Info emailed all five members of the City Council on Friday with a series of inquiries, including what led the council to decide to put Belleman on leave and approve the separation agreement. Altmann and Councilmember Kerry Ebersole Singh responded. 

Altmann told ELi in a phone call Monday that he initially stated support for Belleman because some people who do not work for the city spoke during public comment at council meetings and said things that were untrue about Belleman. However, Altmann said he “learned more information” before voting in favor of the separation agreement. 

Similarly, Singh said new information led the council to vote in favor of the agreement. 

“Although Mr. Belleman’s 2025 evaluation met satisfactory standards, the Council received additional feedback from various sources including but not limited to formal complaints,” Singh wrote in an email on Monday. 

“In the interest of our staff and community, the Council determined that it was time to move forward and acted expediently to open a new chapter in East Lansing leadership.”

According to the separation agreement, Belleman will be paid his entire $192,816 salary plus almost $31,000 worth of unused paid time off and $2,400 in lieu of health insurance. The city will continue to provide Belleman with vision, dental, life, long-term care and long-term disability insurance, and make payments to his hybrid pension account for one year. 

If Belleman starts another job within the next year, the salary from that job will be subtracted from Belleman’s payment from the city, with six months salary guaranteed. The city would also stop paying for benefits.

The agreement stipulates that the city will provide Belleman with a written reference that tells of “satisfactory employment evaluations” that led to his contract being renewed in September 2025, when the City Council unanimously voted to give him a new three-year contract. 

The 2023 contract Belleman signed when he was hired to serve as city manager stipulated that if the city terminated him, his full salary and benefits would be paid out for one year, conditions closely followed in the separation agreement. 

Under the 2023 contract, if the council declined to offer Belleman another contract with similar pay and benefits, it would be treated the same as terminating the contract and Belleman would receive his full severance package. 

The 2023 contract was approved in a four to one vote, with Councilmember George Brookover voting against, partially due to concerns he had heard about a similar severance package in former City Manager George Lahanas’ contract. The city reached a separation agreement with Lahanas in early 2023. 

East Lansing offered the contract to Belleman just months after he was fired as Saginaw County controller amid accusations he created a toxic workplace environment. At the time, East Lansing Human Resources Director Emily Kenney said the contract was based on industry standards and Lahanas’ contract. 

Since Belleman was hired, the entire five-member City Council has turned over. The current group will select a city manager after a search process that is expected to take months. Altmann said the contract terms for the next city manager could be different, including amendments to provisions that treat the decision to not offer a new contract the same as termination. 

“We are looking at some changes to the contract, there are some things that would have made the process go easier this time around,” Altmann told ELi. “I think that’s one of the changes we need to look at.”

The city should consider industry standards and what candidates expect when negotiating the next city manager’s contract, Altmann said.