With little discussion, the council approved raises for the city
administrator and clerk late Monday night.
With little discussion, the council approved raises for the city administrator and clerk late Monday night.
The body voted 4-3 – with Council members Bob Dillon, Craig Gartman and Perry Woodward dissenting – to approve a $4,745 raise for City Clerk Shawna Freels, bumping her annual salary up to $99,653. City Administrator Tom Haglund received a $9,950 raise to make his salary $208,950. However, like all employees who took 10-percent pay cuts due to furloughs, Haglund and Freel’s actual yearly salaries will total $189,662 and $90,454, respectively, through June 2011. No city employees will receive any merit raises through June 2010.
During brief public comments, Council member Dion Bracco, who owns Bracco’s Towing, explained why he voted for the raises.
“My employees don’t get raises, and they don’t even ask, but this comes down to an issue of fairness,” Bracco said, referring to the council’s freezing of annual merit raises for all employees in March after approving 48 layoffs. Three months later, the council approved contracts with the city’s five bargaining units – which do not include Haglund or Freels because they are Gilroy’s only two council-appointed employees – and those contracts restored merit raises for the unions in the 2008-09 fiscal year, which ended June 30. Freels’ and Haglund’s raises stemmed from their yearly performance evaluations left over from January and May, respectively.
“The rest of our employees got a merit increase, so I think it’s only fair to grant it for the two employees who work directly for us and do an excellent job,” Bracco said. “(Freels) shows up at my house at 8 p.m. delivering stuff, and Tom’s job has been grueling since he got here.”
The city’s various union representatives were not present but have generally supported the raises, saying they are in line with raises every other city employee received last fiscal year.
Check back Tuesday afternoon for the full story.
