Since his retirement on June 30, Johnson — with 20-plus years of service with the city — has worked on a limited basis for Ogden, helping wrap up some of the matters that were pending as his tenure as Ogden’s top administrator wound down, Mayor Mike Caldwell said Tuesday.

“He was kind enough to do it,” said Caldwell, who described the arrangement as temporary. Mara Brown took over as chief administrative officer when Johnson stepped down.

He has been paid on an hourly basis and has worked perhaps five hours or so a week, Caldwell estimated. Johnson has not received a retainer for his duties and has not received health or other benefits as part of his continuing work.

Actually, Johnson worked 21.75 hours for the city in all between Aug. 5 and Sept. 15 at a rate of $100 per hour, earning $2,175, according to figures subsequently supplied by Caldwell’s office.

Johnson’s continued duties with the city, though limited, have raised the eyebrows of some in Ogden, who have noted figures on the transparent.utah.gov website that indicate he has earned $217,836.66 in wages and $76,871.70 in benefits for 2023. Caldwell said the figures, beyond reflecting what Johnson earned in the first six months of 2023 as a full-time employee, could reflect things like accumulated vacation payout and other benefits he received on retiring.

No way, though, did he earn that sort of money from his limited duties on retiring, Caldwell said, and he took offense at the suggestion that Johnson was somehow milking the system for extra money. “It’s illegal and it’s something we would never do,” Caldwell said.

Johnson’s wages for 2022, the last full year he worked for the City of Ogden, totaled $182,249.85, with another $65,504.48 in benefits, according to transparent.utah.gov. That’s a website operated by the Utah State Auditor’s Office that contains compensation information for public employees across the state.

Caldwell said it isn’t uncommon for a retiring official with expertise in an area to continue on temporarily on a part-time basis. Johnson was helping wrap up some administrative duties started during his tenure related to bonding, among other things, and Randy Watt, the former Ogden police chief, temporarily served in a similar capacity after he retired as head of the police department.

Johnson worked for 12 years as chief administrative officer for Ogden. He started as a full-time city staffer in 2004 and served on the Ogden City Council for two years before that.