New Belleville mayor fills City Hall posts. What do they do, how much do they make?
While the search is on for a new city engineer and economic development director in Belleville, Mayor Patty Gregory said she is happy with the progress members of her administration have made.
“I believe we were off and running on the very first day,” Gregory said of her City Hall administration, which began May 1.
Gregory has appointed a series of employees to posts in her administration, including some who served in Mark Eckert’s administration, along with seven new employees.
She also is seeking a city engineer to replace Michael Velloff, who resigned this week, and an economic development director to replace Annissa McCaskill, who was not reappointed by Gregory.
Two of the seven new employees, Dean Hardt and Seth Miller, were supported by Gregory in the campaign as they ran for office on April 6, but lost their races.
Hardt lost his re-election bid in the treasurer’s race to Sarah Biermann, who had been working in the treasurer’s office, while Miller lost the Ward 7 alderman race to incumbent Dennis Weygandt.
Miller, who recently retired from the military and has a human resources degree, was named director of human resources and community development at a salary of $75,000 and Hardt, who served as treasurer from 2013 to 2021, was named as purchasing agent and risk management manager at a salary of $70,000.
The BND previously reported the salary amounts for Miller and Hardt and recently received salary information from the city for the other five new employees.
According to information released as part of a Freedom of Information Act request filed by the BND, here’s a rundown of the salaries for the five other new employees:
▪ Scott Tyler, who retired as a city firefighter last month and was a Belleville alderman from 2015 to 2019, makes $70,000 as director of health, housing and building.
▪ Lloyd M. Cueto, a Belleville attorney, makes $62,798 as assistant city attorney.
▪ Kathleen Kaiser, a marketing agency leader, makes $52,000 as communications director.
▪ Gigi Dowling Urban, a former education administrator, and Marilyn Vise, a former journalist and communications manager, each make $28 per hour for a maximum of $28,000 a year as a part-time administrative liaison to the mayor. The part-time employees are not eligible for benefits with this position.
Gregory said Kaiser, Urban and Vise assisted her campaign earlier this year in various capacities.
After the mayoral appointments were approved by the City Council, the city updated its list of salaries posted on the city’s website. This list is for full-time employees and does not include part-time workers such as Urban and Vise.
To see all salaries of public employees in Belleville and from agencies across the metro-east, you can check out the BND’s public pay database at bnd.com.
Gregory’s plan for the new employees was approved by the City Council in a 10-6 vote last month.
New positions
The job description for the administrative liaison to the mayor says the newly created position calls for the employees to attend meetings on behalf of the mayor and to implement “strategic planning processes.”
In their first month, Urban and Vise have been researching ways the city can get its fair share of grants, Gregory said.
“They are researching everything that we can get money for with the federal funding coming up in the different programs,” Gregory said.
The U.S. Treasury Department reports the American Rescue Plan calls for $350 billion to be released to state and local governments to help in recovering from the pandemic.
City engineer
Velloff started with the city in February 2020 and he was reappointed to his post as city engineer by Gregory last month.
He could not be reached for comment.
Velloff, who previously served on the Alton City Council, earned $102,000.
Gregory said the city has already started advertising for a new engineer and the pay range is $90,000 to $100,000.
Also, she expects to hire a temporary engineer until the city hires a full-time engineer.
This story was originally published June 5, 2021 at 5:00 AM.
