>I’m writing these comments because I don’t want the discussion of the Village Manager’s increase to end.
Several points that have emerged so far from the discussion are (1)the faulty justification for the increase by members of the VC was the Manager’s achieving substantial saving for the Village. This I assume was the result of his firing of a large number of Village employees two years ago and his negotiation of new contracts with the Police and Fire Department Unions. However, after the firings it was so obvious that the Village wasn’t functioning that many of those jobs had to be filed in the following year. The Union contracts which the Village manager negotiated was used as justification for giving him a raise by the Mayor, who said: I don’t believe that in the present state of the economy anyone should get increases, but if the Union guys get them, then everyone should. The fact is that the Village Manager negotiated an unwarranted increase for the Police and Fire Unions, when instead he should have insisted in reductions in the Police Depatment staffing and the restrucuring of the Fire Department and as a minimum substantial contributions to their health and pension plans. If the Manager did such save the Village thousands of dollars, why are out taxes going up by 7%.
(2) A 12% increase, under no circumstances, can be justified. Even if the Village manager was doing a great job, there is no basis for raising his salary retroactively to an amount that is completely out of line with what other public employee earn. One blogger suggest that this may have been promised to him when he was hired.
(3) The attitude of certain members of the Village Council must be addressed. Several of the newer members have suggested that they were not required to take into consideration what the public might have said in making the decision as to the Manager’s increase. Yet, at the last meeting, the Council backed down when it heard the outcry from the public in regard to a cell tower at the Fire House. Or stated another way, you can’t have selected hearing.
