TACOMA — When former Tacoma Police Chief Avery Moore resigned earlier this year, leaving his job of three years came with a golden parachute, public records show. As part of an employment separation agreement, the city paid him $479,267.15.
That payment is equal to 16 months of Moore’s salary and the cost of paying 16 months of health coverage, subject to tax withholdings, according to a copy of the separation agreement. The figure doesn’t include standard employment payouts Moore and other employees are entitled to such as unused vacation.
Moore’s annual salary was $326,934 when he resigned.
In return for the payment, Moore agreed to submit his resignation letter by Jan. 27 — it was sent a day late — and he agreed to fully cooperate with the city on any future or ongoing litigation for 10 years. The agreement barred Moore from any future employment with the city.
Tacoma’s end of the bargain included not seeking Moore’s de-certification with the Washington State Criminal Justice Training Commission. The agreement said nothing in the document should be interpreted as a basis for the suspension, revocation or denial of Moore’s certification pursuant to RCW Chapter 43.101.
The agreement was signed Jan. 28 by Moore, City Manager Elizabeth Pauli and City Attorney Chris Bacha.
Pauli, whom Moore reported to, had no media availability “any time soon” to comment on the separation payment, city spokesperson Maria Lee said Wednesday. Asked last month why it was necessary to pay Moore upon his resignation, Lee directed The News Tribune back to the verbiage of the separation agreement and said there are pending matters that will require Moore’s time and attention.
According to the text of the agreement, its purpose included facilitating the transfer of leadership and easing Moore’s transition to other employment. When Moore announced his resignation Jan. 29, he said he was stepping away from his career in law enforcement and was moving on to the next chapter of his life.
Efforts to reach Moore for comment through a personal email address listed in public records and a personal phone number were not successful.
The News Tribune reached out to each member of Tacoma City Council to ask for their thoughts on the separation payment. Most did not respond. Council Member Jamika Scott said she had no comment on the matter.
Mayor Victoria Woodards and council members Sandesh Sadalge and Sarah Rumbaugh did not have any media availability Wednesday or Thursday, according to Lee.
The sum Moore received was a little less than $500,000 the city paid each of the three Tacoma police officers tried and acquitted in the death of Manuel Ellis to resign. Their resignation agreements did not include clauses barring them from future employment with the city or requiring them to cooperate with any litigation.
In addition to agreeing to cooperate with any litigation, Moore agreed to release any and all claims he might have against the city.
The News Tribune is aware of one active lawsuit Moore is involved in as the former police chief.
Moore’s former chief of staff, Curtis Hairston, sued the City of Tacoma last year alleging he experienced racial bias and discrimination during the 18 months he worked with the Police Department. Moore is listed as a witness in the lawsuit.
Hairston, who reported to Moore, sued for discrimination, retaliation, wrongful termination and hostile work environment.
The lawsuit claimed Hairston was fired in October 2023 after he was investigated over an ethics complaint that claimed Hairston used his position to try to get his stepson hired at the Police Department.
The ethics complaint was dismissed and the investigation closed without any discipline imposed, but Hairston said the Police Department still moved to terminate him less than a month later.
In a response filed in June last year, the City of Tacoma denied that the Police Department moved to terminate Hairston. The city said Moore was dissatisfied with Hairston’s performance and gave him the option to resign in lieu of termination, which Hairston agreed to.
Alongside claims that the department’s hiring practices were biased and discriminatory toward Black applicants and that discipline wasn’t applied evenly between Black and non-Black employees, Hairston’s lawsuit implied that Moore didn’t do enough to step in when Deputy Chief Paul Junger allegedly made racist comments directed toward him.
“Chief Moore did little other than to tell the two of them to work it out themselves,” the lawsuit states.
In its legal response, the City of Tacoma denied that claim and the claims related to Junger’s allegedly racist comments.
A pretrial conference in the case is scheduled for Sept. 25, with a trial date set for Oct. 16.
