FOUR ALDERMEN IN FAVOR, TWO ABSTAIN
Bryan Richison, city administrator for Platte City, has been awarded another year onto his employment contract.
Platte City Board of Aldermen met in closed session on July 20, and by a vote of four in favor and two abstaining, approved extending Richison’s contract for an additional year.
Voting in favor of the extension were aldermen Vickie Atkins, Dan Laxson, Scott Poague, and Debbie Kirkpatrick. Abstaining were Jesse Bennett and Ken Graham.
His pact now expires in July of 2028. Richison was hired by the city in July of 2025. His salary as of now is $150,600.
“I started with a two year contract. It specifies every year when I am down to one year remaining that the board is supposed to vote on extending it for an additional year,” Richison told The Landmark.
“I was hired at $140,000 (in 2025). My contract stipulates that once I was eligible for LAGERS (the statewide local government retirement system) my salary would be increased by four percent to offset the four percent LAGERS deductions,” Richison explained.
“Since I had worked in other cities in the LAGERS system there was no waiting period, so the adjustment was made on Aug. 12, 2025. This is our standard practice by the way, we do it for all employees,” the city administrator said.
With the four percent increase, his salary went to $145,600.
His contract does specify a $5,000 retention incentive after he completed one year of service, “and then again when I complete two years of service,” Richison said.
The first year incentive took effect with the new pay period following the recent closed meeting. The retention incentive raises his salary to its new level of $150,600.
Richison came to Platte City after being the city administrator in Arnold, Mo., population 21,000, in northeastern Jefferson County. It is a suburb of St. Louis. By comparison, Platte City’s population is around 5,000.
He had been with Arnold since 2013.
While at Arnold, Richison “led numerous successful initiatives focused on economic development, infrastructure investment, and improving municipal operations,” Platte City officials said at the time of his hiring.
Prior to his time in Arnold, Richison held various administrative roles in city management and finance, building a career marked by strategic planning, fiscal responsibility and community engagement.
Richison had also previously served as city administrator in Lawson and assistant city administrator in Gladstone for about three years each.
The Landmark has reached out to Graham and Bennett to ask their reasoning for abstaining on the vote, and also to Mayor Amber Brune for her thoughts on the extension.
For their responses, see the Between the Lines column.
