City Council on Wednesday officially appointed Scott Stiles as interim city manager, but only after a testy exchange over the compensation package left three of eight present council members as “no” votes.
The package gives Stiles a raise if he returns to his previous role as one of two assistant city managers, which three council members said is unfair to lesser-paid city workers, such as trash collectors, and the other assistant city manager, David Holmes, who won’t get comparable pay increases.
The package appoints Stiles to the city’s top job at a salary of $240,000 a year, less than the previous city manager’s $255,000 salary.
If the city appoints someone other than Stiles as permanent city manager, Stiles will be placed back in the assistant city manager role with a $180,000 salary, roughly $33,500 more than the other assistant city manager.
If a permanent city manager decides to relieve Stiles of the assistant city manager position, the city will be required to make a good faith effort to find Stiles some form of employment within the city until 2018, which would allow Stiles to collect his full pension payment upon retirement.
Council Members David Mann, Charlie Winburn, Amy Murray, Kevin Flynn and Christopher Smitherman voted in favor of the appointment and package, while Chris Seelbach, Yvette Simpson and Wendell Young voted against it. P.G. Sittenfeld was absent.
Simpson and Seelbach said they have no problem giving Stiles a $240,000 salary while he’s in the interim city manager position, but both argued it’s unfair to other city workers to give only Stiles a raise if he’s reappointed as assistant city manager.
Simpson pointed out that the package would also increase the city administration budget if the new permanent city manager decides to keep Stiles and Holmes as assistant city managers at the agreed-upon salaries.
Mayor John Cranley argued Simpson, Seelbach and Young were trying to introduce a new standard that wasn’t present in the previous council, where Simpson, Seelbach and Young were in the majority coalition.
“I would have appreciated long-term thinking when I was saddled with a $255,000 severance payment,” he said, referencing a severance package the previous council gave to former City Manager Milton Dohoney after Cranley announced Dohoney would resign on Dec. 1.
Simpson argued the severance package wouldn’t have been necessary if Cranley agreed to keep Dohoney on the job until a permanent replacement was found.
“It’s our job to protect the taxpayer,” Simpson said.
Vice Mayor Mann pointed out that if the city doesn’t fill the assistant city manager role while Stiles presides as interim city manager, the city will actually save money by leaving a salaried administrative position vacant for six months.
Cranley previously said the city will conduct a national search for a permanent city manager. Council members at Wednesday’s meeting estimated the effort should take six months.
