Councilwoman Heidi Shipley on Tuesday suggested a measure that would require the council to OK any major raises given to city employees
PALM COAST — When Palm Coast City Manager Jim Landon announced last week that he’d selected Beau Falgout, a top city administrator, as the new assistant city manager he described it as a “formality.”
What he failed to mention was the $15,000 raise that came with Falgout’s new title. And at least two council members said Tuesday they were surprised to learn of that detail after the fact.
It led Councilwoman Heidi Shipley to call for more oversight during a council workshop Tuesday, calling for a measure that would require approval from the council before major raises are given to city employees from now on.
“What I’m looking for isn’t for all raises to be stopped,” Shipley said. “Obviously, I wouldn’t say that. But it should be coming through us if it’s something like $1,000 a month … So when something like that happens, we’re not caught by surprise.”
It was a an apparent shot at Landon’s autonomy as chief administrator of Palm Coast’s staff and he took umbrage, calling Shipley’s suggestion “offensive.”
Landon, who has been city manager since 2007, has already made public his plans to retire in mid-2019 and the council is in the midst of the long process to choose a successor. And he’s come under attack from multiple council members who want to see him gone sooner than his declared timeline.
Landon broke the news that Falgout had been named assistant city manager during his closing remarks at the March 6 City Council meeting. His announcement came in the form of a 90-second briefing in the final moments of the meeting.
“It’s really more of a formality, in my opinion, because that’s how I’ve always used him for the last few years,” Landon said of the move during that meeting.
City spokeswoman Cindi Lane followed up a day later with a news release announcing the promotion.
What neither Landon nor the news release addressed was the $15,216 pay increase attached to Falgout’s new position: his annual salary went from $94,784 to $110,000, according to an email from Lane.
Councilman Nick Klufas said during Tuesday’s workshop that he too was “caught by surprise” by the pay hike.
“I was taken aback a little bit,” Klufas said. “It just felt misrepresented from the way Mr. Landon represented it at the last council meeting.”
Shipley, however, went further in challenging Landon and asking to make a motion that he be required to get the council’s sign-off for any future wage increases “other than the usual raises” for staff members.
“Only because, at a time when Mr. Landon is on his way out, making a raise for somebody that we didn’t know anything about ...” she said, her words trailing off. “But, he can give everybody a raise. So, just so that we don’t seem like we’re taking taxpayer dollars for granted. Just to put some kind of hold on that so that we’re aware of any (raises) and we’re handling it.”
Mayor Milissa Holland told Shipley she can add the measure to the agenda for the March 20 council meeting and put her motion up for a vote. Shipley said she wanted to discuss it openly during Tuesday’s workshop and Landon, who seemed to bristle at one of her insinuations, pounced on the opportunity.
“I would love to discuss it now because that’s extremely offensive, to suggest that on my way out I would give everybody huge raises,” he said.
“It’s still something that has to be addressed,” Shipley said, cutting him off. “I can’t worry about offending people when it comes to what I’m supposed to do with the citizens of Palm Coast.”
Landon said his administration looks at salaries regularly to make sure they remain competitive with other local governments, and the city uses a merit system as well as a pay plan with standard annual adjustments to set city employee’s salaries. He added they consider upping the salary for certain positions if they begin seeing people leave on a regular basis for better pay.
“That’s my job, and we take it very serious,” he said.
Councilman Steven Nobile, who’s been critical of Landon in the past and even called for his removal last year, seemed more aligned with the city manager on Tuesday. He said he’s uncomfortable getting involved with the decision-making of city employee raises, but offered a compromise. Nobile proposed that Landon give council members a weekly report that lists all salary increases but leaves out the employees’ names.
“Like, here’s what we’ve done this week, or whatever, so that if something flagrant pops up … you know what I mean?” Nobile said. “Just so that we can act on it when we see something.”