You've got to hand it to Gary Luebbers. The guy knows how to take care of himself.

After eight years of pocketing the highest city employee salary in Utah (except for Salt Lake airport director), Luebbers will collect a staggering $360,000 "separation payment" now that he's leaving. And he managed it all by managing not Salt Lake City, not Provo, but West Jordan, the fourth-largest city in the state.

He's found a better gig closer to his grandkids -- in Sunnyvale, Calif.

On his way out, he reminded his bosses of the fine print in his contract: They owe him cash for 33 weeks of vacation, 15 weeks of unused sick leave, nearly 10 weeks in comp time and 29 weeks of "executive time" -- at $86 an hour. Cutting the check will clean out the City Council's contingency fund.

"Every hour that I'm getting paid for, I worked," Luebbers insists.

He reminds me of Harold Hill, the foiled scam artist from "The Music Man." Like the marching band leader, Luebbers made the most of his days in a small city.

In 2000, he took a job in a 'burb in crisis. After battling with the mayor, city executives had been forced out. Morale was low. The City Council was reeling. Luebbers swept in to the rescue, boasting his years of experience and economic-development acumen. City leaders bought it, signing an extraordinary employment contract that let Luebbers cash in unlimited unused hours when he left.

"I don't know what they were thinking," says Mayor David Newton, elected in 2006.

It's all perfectly legal in the free-agent world of city management. Would-be government executives shop themselves around, milking taxpayers for as much as they can get, all the while hinting that they could be lured away by higher pay in the private sector.

West Jordan leaders have a hard time ticking off Luebbers' accomplishments. During his tenure, a KraftMaid cabinet factory opened in West Jordan and Oracle announced it would build a $285 million data center. But Luebbers can't take all the credit, or even most of it, considering the partnership of state economic development officials.

Tonight, the City Council will have to sign off on Luebbers' buyout. The mayor says this will never happen again. "The city is in better shape than it was eight years ago."

Before his "separation payment," Luebbers might have been remembered for making people in West Jordan feel better.

Now, he'd just be run out on a rail.

walsh@sltrib.com