During a back-and-forth with Cassetti, Third Ward Alderman Joseph Jeanette Jr. accused the mayor of making an end run around the Aldermen in granting the pay bump.
“Why do we need our Aldermen here if you’re just going to give raises without even consulting us?” Jeanette said.
After the meeting, Jeanette said he didn’t think the raise was illegal, but that the mayor should have consulted with Aldermen before awarding it.
Background
Aldermen voted Dec. 15 to hire Ronda Porrini as the city’s land use administrator, at a salary of $55,000.
At the time, Porrini had been working part-time in the land use office for several months.
Her new position was discussed at a meeting of the Aldermen’s salary committee Dec. 14, and then the full board Dec. 15.
During the Dec. 14 meeting, the salary committee’s members voted to start Porrini at a $50,000, with Cassetti given discretion to increase the salary to $60,000 after six months on the job.
Minutes of that meeting had not been filed in the clerk’s office at City Hall as of noon Wednesday, a violation of the Freedom of Information Act.
The day after the salary committee meeting, the full Board of Aldermen met and revisited the matter.
At that meeting, the Aldermen voted to make the salary $55,000, with the mayor given the option to bump it to $60,000 “within six months.”
First Ward Alderman Charles Stowe proposed the change.
The vote was 12 – 1, with Joan Radin, a Fifth Ward Alderman who chairs the salary committee, voting no.
Click the play button below to listen to the discussion from the Dec. 15 meeting.
’Why Do We Need Our Aldermen Here?’
During the Aldermen’s monthly meeting Tuesday (March 8), Jeanette, who wasn’t present at the Dec. 15 meeting, said he had been told Porrini’s salary had been bumped to $60,000 before the six-month mark.
The raise — awarded about three months into Porrini’s full-time employment — works out to a roughly 9 percent increase.
Jeanette asked Cassetti why he gave the raise.
“If we’re trying to cut taxes, why are we giving raises out like this? I’m upset about this,” Jeanette said.
Click the play button on the video above to see some of the back-and-forth.
“This (the land use office) is a very valuable department,” Cassetti replied. “She’s doing a tremendous job.”
“I know people where I work who do a tremendous job, but they don’t get a raise after three months,” Jeanette said.
Sheila O’Malley, the city’s grant writer and director of economic development, tried to interject.
“You’re out of order,” Jeanette told her. “I want the mayor to answer.”
“Why do we need our Aldermen here if you’re just going to give raises without even consulting us?” Jeanette said.
“I don’t want to lose the person,” the mayor said. “She’s very valuable.”
“I want to know why we didn’t wait six months to give this raise?” Jeanette said.
“I thought it would be better if we gave her a raise now,” Cassetti said.
’Let The Mayor Run The City’
Stowe, who proposed the motion authorizing the mayor to give the raise, said he was “a little upset too.”
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“I believe she’s as good as you say, mayor, and I support your decision, however I do understand what Joe Jeanette is talking about,” Stowe said. “We are a committee and it should have been brought to our attention. We should have had a simple meeting and discussed it.”
First Ward Alderman Lorie Vaccaro said Porrini should have been making $60,000 from the start, noting her prior experience.
“The mayor is executive of this city. He knows how to run the city. But there’s a certain few on the salary board who thought that $60,000 was too much,” Vaccaro said. “Let the mayor run the city. The people voted for him and gave him a 79 percent plurality with their votes. Let the mayor and his administration run the city.”
Jeanette responded that voters elected the Board of Aldermen, too.
“Mayor, you are doing some great things, I’ve got to say, but this one, I can’t agree with you on this one,” he said. “Why do you need us here if we’re going to vote on stuff and then we’re not going to do it. Why do we sit here?”
“You’re not here on a day-to-day basis,” Vaccaro said. “You don’t run the city. The mayor runs the city. I don’t want to get into a peeing contest here, but the mayor runs the city, he was elected to run the city. We’re doing a hell of a job the past two and a half years, we’re going to continue to move forward.”
Vaccaro said Porrini is “worth her weight in gold.”
“We’re going to deny our children in schools certain services so we can give raises to people in City Hall? Is that fair to kids?” Jeanette asked. “And we got elected, too. Just like the mayor.”
Why Isn’t This In The Budget?
Later, Seventh Ward Alderman David Blackwell Jr. noted that the new salary wasn’t in the 2016 – 2017 budget that the city’s tax board had approved Monday, and was handed out to Aldermen before Tuesday’s meeting.
He asked William Nimons, the city’s comptroller, why — and what else might be wrong in the document.
“How true is this budget that we’re being presented with?” he asked.
“The budget is as true as the numbers we had the day it was prepared,” Nimons replied.
Blackwell noted Porrini had received the raise before the budget was prepared.
“I didn’t know about it (the raise) either,” Nimons said.
Blackwell said that was worrying.
“My concern is what else is not true here, and who is looking after it?” he said.
“This is something that should be known and controlled by your office,” Blackwell said later. “It just bewilders me how an Alderman is aware of it, it’s not in any paperwork I have, my fellow Aldermen are not aware of it, and you’re not aware of it as the comptroller, who’s in charge of all finances for the city. That’s a concern for me and it should be for everybody.”
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Reaction
After the meeting, Jeanette said he didn’t think the mayor broke the law in giving the raise — he just wanted the mayor to revisit the issue with Aldermen.
“It’s not illegal. We voted to address that extra $5,000 in six months, provided she went to meetings and did her job well,” he said. “And instead they just gave her a raise.”
Jeanette is one of two Democratic Aldermen on the board. There are 12 Republicans.
John Marini, the city’s corporation counsel, said the criticism was “uninformed and disingenuous considering Alderman Jeanette’s past voting record on taxes.”
Jeanette said his criticism wasn’t politically motivated.
“This isn’t a Democrat-Republican thing, by no means,” Jeanette said. “I’m not saying she doesn’t deserve a raise. But she should have waited the six months.”
Cassetti defended the raise, echoing Vaccaro’s comments about Porrini’s performance.
“Our building department has really been transformed,” the mayor said.
He noted that the land use department has greatly expanded its hours — and the revenue the city receives from permits — with Porrini at the helm. He said he’s been flooded with praise from developers and builders about her performance.
“She’s doing a phenomenal job,” he said. “I didn’t want to lose her.”
Asked if she had threatened to leave the post, Cassetti said no.
“I just gave it to her a little earlier,” he said. “Maybe I should have went through the Board of Aldermen. That’s neither here nor there. It’s done.”
