Belleville gives raises to four officials but saves money by consolidating departments
When four Belleville city leaders were given raises of $5,000 to $10,000 and additional duties earlier this year, the City Council tabbed it as trial program.
Now, the plan has been made permanent.
While the raises added $35,000 to its payroll, officials said the city has realized a savings of $50,000 to $55,000 since it did not hire a new director of housing after the previous one resigned. Instead, the city created a new department called Residential and Commercial Development Services.
Here are the assignments:
▪ Annissa McCaskill remains as director of Economic Development and Planning and also is the director of Residential and Commercial Development Services. McCaskill received a $10,000 raise in February and her current salary is $91,217.
▪ Police Chief Bill Clay and Assistant Police Chief Matt Eiskant each received a $10,000 raise in February and were given additional housing and code enforcement duties. Clay’s current salary is $126,769 and Eiskant earns $121,011.
▪ Jeff Heidorn is the building commissioner who oversees building inspectors and he was given a $5,000 raise. His current salary is $75,938.
The new department has three divisions: Housing and Code Enforcement; Building and Zoning; and Economic Development and Planning.
The lineup shuffle started when Jonathan Philebaum resigned late last year as director of the Health, Housing and Building Department, which has now been eliminated.
BEHIND THE STORY
MOREWhy did we report this story?
We wanted to give Belleville residents a look at how the City Council is paying department leaders. To read more about salaries for public employees across the metro-east, check out the News-Democrat’s public pay database at bnd.com.
“I feel like we’ve never had better communication between the departments,” Mayor Mark Eckert told the City Council.
Police Chief Bill Clay praised the new command structure.
“I have always believed that housing and police need to be more tied together,” Clay said. “I think we have done a very exceptional job. We have come together where we’ve never come together before; we have worked together where we’ve never worked together before.”
Economic development
Aldermen voted 14-1 on Nov. 18 to permanently establish the Residential and Commercial Development Services, although two of the aldermen who voted for the plan said they had concerns about how the city handles economic development.
Ward 8 Alderman Roger Barfield, who retired from the police department as assistant chief and has served as a manager in the housing department, cast the lone dissenting vote. He also voted against the plan in January.
Barfield said after the latest vote that he believes the city should have a full-time economic development director. Ward 6 Alderman Chris Rothweiler agrees with Barfield but said he voted for the plan because he likes the cooperation he saw between the police department and the Residential and Commercial Development Services.
But Eckert disputes the argument that the city doesn’t have a full-time economic development director.
Rothweiler told the council, “I would like a commitment, Mr. Mayor, that we talk about an economic development director.”
Eckert quickly replied, “We have a director, Chris.”
Ward 8 Alderman Roger Wigginton voted for the new department but he also had a concern about how the city handles economic development.
“We have to question how we can spin off economic development,” Wigginton said.
Eckert told the aldermen that the city can’t afford more employees in economic development.
“I would love to hire two more people in economic development but we (have got to) have the money,” Eckert said.
However, Eckert told the council that Eric Schauster, the assistant director for Economic Development, no longer has community development duties and Schauster said he was able to reach out to more businesses this year than he ever has before.
Other pilot mergers
The community development duties that had been assigned to Schauster and Human Resources Director Sherry Favre Salvatore have been given to Library Director Leander Spearman.
Salvatore has been working part time this year.
Also, Public Works Director Jason Poole was asked to manage the Parks and Recreation Department after the previous parks director, Debbie Belleville, retired in the spring.
Poole and Spearman each received a $10,000 salary increase as part of the pilot program approved by the city earlier this year. Poole’s salary is now $100,437 and Spearman’s is $91,216.
Eckert said he hasn’t decided yet whether to ask the City Council to make these changes permanent.
