Follow-up: My Postings About the July 27th Council Meeting

I’ve gotten a lot of response, from various quarters, to my two postings about the last council meeting. Here’s some of what I have heard:


Pay Raises

There seems to be some question regarding the administrators' pay raise ordinance that Finance Director Anthony Ianiro prepared and presented for council’s approval on July 27th. That ordinance listed the new salaries (reflecting raises) for city administrators and non-union administrative employees over the next three years.


I am hearing that council members were shocked and surprised when they realized that Tony Ianiro listed the Building Commissioner's 2010 salary as $79,560. After all, council approved a $ 72,000 salary for the position when Dale Grabfelder was hired as the city’s new Building Commissioner in February 2010.


It remains to be seen whether Tony Ianiro simply made a mistake when preparing the pay ordinance (a pretty important piece of financial legislation) or whether the ordinance simply reflects Mayor Coleman’s wishes regarding the Building Commissioner’s salary.


Why do I say that? Think back to Mayor Coleman’s failed attempt last January to avoid publicly posting the position and to quickly hire the University Heights building commissioner instead. (Read my January 7, 2010 blog posting for details on that). At that time, the mayor proposed setting the building commissioner’s starting salary at $ 78,000, with a pay increase to $80,000 on July 1st, 2010.  It's possible that Tony Ianiro prepared the pay ordinance with the mayor's $ 80,000 building commissioner salary figure in mind.


Mistake or no mistake, Dale Grabfelder certainly would be within his legal rights to claim that he is entitled to be paid $79,560 this year, given that the Tony Ianiro-prepared pay ordinance became law once council passed it on July 27th as an emergency measure.

It will be interesting to see if/how council follows up on this latest finance department mess. Regardless, it certainly appears to be another case of:
Your tax dollars at work...


Mayor Coleman’s July 21st Letter to Residents

I previously reported that Mayor Coleman admitted using Service Department employees to stuff his letter (about a recent rash of roofing contractor solicitations) into plastic bags and to distribute it, door-to-door, to residents. I also reported that the mayor did not provide council with any detailed information about the total work hours (or total cost) associated with using service department employees for that job, nor did the mayor explain why he chose to use service department workers rather than having the city hall secretarial staff prepare a letter for bulk mailing or using the city’s already paid-for reverse 911 calling system to communicate with residents.


Since my last blog posting, several different sources have contacted me to discuss how much time service department workers spent stuffing and distributing Mayor Coleman’s letter. I have not verified that information, but based on what I was told it appears reasonable to conclude that at least 60 hours of total service worker time was spent on the entire enterprise---12 worker hours for stuffing the letter into plastic bags and 48 worker hours for distributing it door-to-door. That’s just a minimum figure, which does not include the cost of gas, etc.  

I'm guessing that the total cost of using the service department staff easily equals the "several thousands of dollars" that Mayor Coleman claimed he saved by not having the city's independant contractor/newsletter provider print and distribute his letter.
Once again, your tax dollars at work...


Awards

On a much brighter note, this week’s Sun Messenger reported on a recognitions award that the Highland Heights Police Department received in May from the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement.

 Congratulations to Chief Cook and his staff!
 The end.