Council gives 6% raises

In a special city council meeting last week, the council voted unanimously to grant 6% merit raises to both City Clerk Tami MacKay and City Attorney Brittany Walker.

This is a regular annual meeting and, in normal circumstances, it would include the city manager as well. But as Boulder City is still waiting for the city manager designate to actually arrive in town (see related story on this page), that position was not included. Plus the new city manager is already slated to make 14% more than the last one.

Unlike previous meetings like this, the meeting last week came with a bit of fireworks.

The process is that the person in each position gets up and gives a presentation outlining what they did and any notable accomplishments from the previous 12 months. Then the council hands a sheet of paper to staff which carries a rating for each candidate on a scale of 1-5 in a number of categories. Staff then takes those sheets and tallies an average rating. After getting the average from staff, the council begins to discuss the size of the coming merit salary increase.

These raises are in addition to automatic cost of living increases that are tied to the consumer price index and that will take effect when the new fiscal year begins on July 1.

First up was McKay, who outlined all of the work she and her staff do for city meetings.

“This past year we had 24 city council meetings, seven special meetings, one workshop, five RDA (Redevelopment Authority) meetings, 10 business license meetings, 38 committee and commission meetings. We reviewed 340 agenda items, 164 resolutions and 54 ordinances.”

She also touted her work with the communications staff to implement a picture-in-picture feature for live streams of meetings so that, during PowerPoint presentations, both the slide and the speaker can both be seen at the same time.

The first council member to speak was Cokie Booth who touted the customer service provided.

“I take my hat off to you because your whole team is customer service-orientated,” she said. “You have one bad experience at the city and it’s on Facebook and every other thing so you guys eliminate problems by being kind to somebody that may be having a problem.”

Mayor Joe Hardy thanked her for “counseling” him.

“I think sometimes we make eye contact and I realize I couldn’t do what I just did and I ask and you say ‘No, you can’t do that.’” he said. “And so then I have to figure out a different way to do what I wanted to get done. And you’re very patient.”

After a short recess, Acting City Manager Michael Mays reported that McKay’s average rating was 4.78 which brought on the actual dollars and cents discussion. Her current salary is $157,300, which puts her in the middle of the range allowed under city guidelines.

Councilman Steve Walton started the conversation with a proposal for a 5% increase or about $8,000 per year. Booth wanted more. Double.

“My concern is you could make $25,000 more just going over the hill or going into Las Vegas, she’s not that far away. So we don’t, I personally think, you don’t want to have that person stolen away from you,” she said.

Hardy said he was also comfortable with 10%. However, the current city budget envisions a 3% merit increase for all of these positions.

Walton brought up the fact that any increase the council gives to executive staff now may be a precedent when it comes to collective bargaining agreements for the next fiscal year’s budget.

“I think we begin to create the perception of imbalance and appreciation that may not be appropriate,” he said. Walton added that he considered 5% a “floor” for a merit increase but that he could not support double that.

Councilwoman Sherri Jorgensen summed up the issue of where the money comes from saying, “If we paid everyone their merit, we would need more solar fields.”

Budget Director Angela Manninen came to the podium and said, “The bottom line, just for budget purposes, is that Boulder City’s population has gone down. So all our taxes aren’t going up as quickly as they had in the past. I’m just throwing that out there, that our revenues are not growing at 10%.”

“If we had to depend on our property taxes to run our city, it’d be pretty grim,” Jorgensen added.

After some additional haggling, the final motion was for a 6% merit increase, which was approved unanimously.

Walker’s turn

Walker came to the podium for the same process. She said that her office had handled 400 criminal cases over the past year and that she gets two or three requests for legal guidance per week from city department heads. She noted her work on solar and natural gas energy contracts, which account for 40% of the city’s budget. She reported that she had reviewed or drafted 328 contracts in the past year.

One item of note was all about saving money. The city has need from time to time of contracting with outside attorneys for some kinds of cases. In some years, that can be a major expense, such as a few years ago when the city was sued by the outgoing city manager, city attorney and city clerk. Fees for those attorneys ran between $400 and $800 per hour. Walker reported that she had instituted a cap and found firms willing to take such cases for no more than $220 per hour.

She also reported that she is working on an anti-camping ordinance and already has a draft which has been sent to staff for review.

Walton chimed in first with high praise saying, “I rated you as high as I could.”

“I remember the very first experience I had,” Jorgensen said. “You were speaking a language I did not understand at all and I came into your office and just said, ‘Can you put this in terms that I might be able to understand?’ And you did and you’ve been doing that ever since.”

But it wasn’t all praises, as Booth lit the fireworks fuse.

“Unfortunately,” she said, “I haven’t had the same experience.” She continued, saying she had a written statement that would be placed in Walker’s employment file if she wanted to read it, which Booth proceeded to do for the public record.

“It’s my belief that Miss Walker has struggled to provide clear, precise and well-researched answers to city council questions,” Booth began. “It’s critical that responses to council inquiries are well-prepared, legally sound and timely. If she is unsure of an answer, I would prefer that she takes the time to research the issue and get back to me with an answer rather than change her answer over time.”

Booth continued, accusing Walker of compromising the attorney-client relationship by bringing a third party into a meeting without Booth’s permission. She made clear that many of her concerns ere based on recent very contentious issues surrounding pets in Boulder City. Referencing the fight over spaying and neutering, Booth contended, “She drafted a response to my concerns that was inaccurate and embellished to her favor,” she said. “Additionally it was brought to my attention that her decision with the former Animal Control Supervisor was disrespectful and she was dismissive of her professional opinion.”

Booth also said that, “Key contracts were poorly negotiated, renegotiated or were not properly maintained,” and added that had resulted in “operational disturbances” that had a potential for financial liability for the city.

Walker’s score was 4.19 and it appeared that Booth had originally voted for no merit raise as Hardy revealed that three council members had recommended a 6% raise, one a 5% raise and one a 0% raise without naming names.

In the end the fireworks appeared to be just for show as Booth voted along with the rest of the council for a 6% raise taking Walker from $154,241 to $163,495.

Reached after the meeting via text message, in response to a question about why she voted for a 6% raise after recommending 0%, Booth said, “I voted with the majority. I try to be a team player. Everyone else voted affirmative,” noting that her dissenting would not have changed the outcome.