Southwest Illinois’ newest city has 112 employees. How much are they being paid?
More than 100 employees are currently employed by the newly formed Cahokia Heights, which officially became a city on May 6. The town is a merger of Alorton, Centreville and Cahokia.
The highest earner is Benjamin Callahan, the city’s assistant police chief. His salary for this year is $93,932.80, according to recent documents provided to the BND. Steven Brown, the city’s police chief, is the second-highest paid employee, making $91,400. Brown previously served as Centreville’s police chief.
Dennis Traiteur, the former general manager of Commonfields of Cahokia Public Water District, is the third highest-paid employee. He works for the city’s water and sewer department and makes a $86,400 salary.
Mayor Curtis McCall Sr is the fourth highest-paid employee for the city. The former Centreville Township supervisor has a $85,025.20 salary.
Of the city’s 112 employees, 92 of them are full-time and 20 are part-time employees. Cahokia Heights did not provide the BND a list of salaries for all part-time employees as previously requested, but they did send a list of salaries and wages for all full-time employees and payroll sheets for July, from which the BND was able to determine the names and July wages for all part-time employees.
Here are the salaries for the city’s top five highest-paid employees and the salaries for all elected officials:
Benjamin Callahan: $93,932.80
Steven Brown: $91,400
Dennis Traiteur: $86,400
Curtis McCall Sr: $85,025.20
Francella Jackson: $83,950
Alderman James Haywood: $24,225
Treasurer Jan Scott: $24,225
Clerk Richard Duncan: $14,400
Alderman DeMario Weeden: $12,825
Alderman Gloria Ware: $12,825
Alderman Gwen McCallum: $12,825
Alderman Tonie Townend: $12,825
Alderman Tiffany Pearce: $12,825
Alderman Lisa Van Meter: $12,825
Alderman Sheree Jethroe-Franklin: $12,825
All elected officials, excluding Mayor McCall, are part-time employees, according to documents received by the BND. Other part-time employees include Betty Sharp, who previously worked as the finance manager for Cahokia. Sharp works for the new town’s administration department and earned $9,022.60 in gross pay for July.
Former Centreville Mayor Marius Jackson is also a part-time employee. As the city’s Emergency Management Agency director, he made $2,740.40 in gross pay for July. In May, Cahokia Heights provided a document to the BND that reported Jackson to have a $25,000 salary.
McCall said next steps for the city include forming various committees, adding more employees to the city’s police department and creating a program that would require city employees to live in the city.
“If you are hired by the city of Cahokia Heights, you must live within our city,” McCall said. “I think that if our city is good enough for individuals to draw a salary, a living from, then our city should be good enough for you to live in.
“Those are some of the things moving forward that I will ask the city council to consider in the next coming months, along with filling out our other committees. We have a zoning board we have to fill. We have an infrastructure committee that we have to fill, housing committee, public safety committee. These are going to be individuals from the city that we will place on these boards to work closely with the departmental heads”
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This story was originally published October 5, 2021 at 6:00 AM.
