Before approving a $41 million budget last week, two members of Derby’s tax board peppered Mayor Anita Dugatto with questions about money being paid to her part-time chief of staff.
The job pays up to $60,000 for just two days of work per week.
The arrangement bothered tax board members Carlo Malerba Jr. and Sam Pollastro Jr.
“A couple of us expressed concern about what we thought that was an awful lot of money for a two-day-a-week position,” Malerba said to the mayor during a tax board meeting May 26.
But Dugatto said the position is worth the investment.
“I felt she was valuable. That’s what she’s worth,” the mayor said.
Background
In March, the mayor’s office announced Leslie Creane had been hired as chief of staff.
Although the title is chief of staff, Creane is actually in charge of community and economic development, the mayor said.
Prior to working in Derby, Creane was Hamden’s town planner, a position she held for 13 years.
Hourly Pay
Pollastro and Malerba started asking questions about the part-time chief of staff position while the tax board was finalizing next year’s budget.
The mayor appeared in person to answer their questions.
Mayor Dugatto offered to share Creane’s resume with the tax board.
“She is … very valuable right now because we are going through zone changes,” Dugatto said. “She is very well versed in changing zones, looking at neighborhoods … planning a city so that it is vibrant and sustainable.”
The mayor said the chief of staff is required to work 15 hours a week, Tuesdays and Thursdays. The position is paid by the hour.
Sal Coppola, the city’s finance director, said Creane’s hours are supposed to increase this month.
“If she’s paid hourly, if her hours go up, her pay goes up, so where is this going?” Pollastro asked.
Excessive?
But Dugatto said the Board of Aldermen capped the position’s pay at $60,000.
“That just seems quite excessive for two days a week,” Malerba said.
Dugatto said the chief of staff will go beyond working the hours specified. She’ll be working hand-in-hand with the new company Derby hired with grant money to come up with a new plan for the downtown redevelopment zone along the Housatonic River.
Click play below to hear a portion of the conversation between the mayor and the tax board.
Malerba wanted more information on the chief of staff’s job duties. He wanted to see an employment contract, but the mayor said there is no employment contract connected to the position.
Malerba also pointed out that if the position pays $60 an hour for two days a week, the annual pay should be closer to $50,000. He questioned where the additional $10,000 could be going.
Dugatto said the chief of staff will be attending public meetings and working on development projects.
“There’s many extra hours,” Dugatto said.
The chief of staff position was one of several positions advertised by the city in June 2015.
However, the chief of staff position was advertised as a full-time job with an annual salary of up to $60,000.
Tax board chair Judy Szewczyk indicated the city had a hard time filling the position.
“You have to drag them in here. It’s not easy,” she said.
Tax board members also wanted to know whether $60,000 was the going rate for the position.
In Seymour, town officials first paid their part-time economic developer roughly $40,000 per year. The person is also a real estate broker.
In Ansonia, Sheila O’Malley earns roughly $87,000 per year in a dual role serving as the city’s economic development director and grants writer.
A town planner, though, can start at $90,000 full time.
The tax board eventually approved a city budget with a 3.6 mill tax increase. That budget included the $60,000 for the chief of staff.
Dugatto provided the tax board, the Board of Aldermen, and the Valley Indy a copy of what the chief of staff has been doing since being hired in late March.
The report is embedded below:
