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SLO City manager and attorney to get bonuses

May 2, 2016

SLO City Manager Katie LichtigBy KAREN VELIE

San Luis Obispo City staff is recommending the council vote Tuesday to give City Manager Katie Lichtig and City Attorney Christine Dietrick $5,000 retention bonuses, Dietrick’s fifth bonus or raise in five years.

Staff based the requests for bonuses on performance and the average pay of comparable markets in recent years, according to the staff report. Nevertheless, members of the community question the high turnover of upper-level staff under Lichtig’s leadership and the growth of public management salaries under the equal compensation model.

“I am appalled by your resolution to award $5,000 each as retention bonuses to City Manager Katie Lichtig and City Attorney Christine Dietrick,” wrote John Grady in an April 29 letter to the SLO City Council. “Both are already overcompensated for a city of our size. Ms. Lichtig earns $230,464 ($321,201 with benefits) and Christine Dietrick earns $199,844 ($275,278 with benefits).

Christine Dietrick

Christine Dietrick

“By way of comparison, Governer Brown earns $177,466 per year and the mayor of Los Angeles (population 3.8 million) earns $232,426 – a mere $2,000 more than Ms. Lichtig. Kamala Harris, California State Attorney General, earns $158,683,” Grady added.

Finance directors and city clerks have been prone to departing San Luis Obispo after brief stints with the city under the leadership of Lichtig. In the past four years, the city has gone through four finance directors, four city clerks and two police chiefs.

In 2015, the council granted Lichtig a car allowance of $450 a month, or $5,400 annually, and a cash bonus of $7,600. Dietrick received a 7 percent raise that increased her base salary by more than $12,000.

The council voted 4-1 to approve the pay increases and bonuses. Councilman Dan Carpenter dissented. The raise bumped Dietrick’s salary from $175,006 to $187,252.

Previously, Dietrick received a 3.5 percent raise in 2012, followed by a 4.5 percent bump in pay in 2013 and a 4.2 percent salary increase in 2014.

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Lichig makes more than the City Manager of Monterey. Larger population, more tourist, more businesses, harbor, connected communities (Seaside, etc). This raise is hush money for the Mayor and Council. Their is no way her or the attorney deserve this but should be giving money back for the bad decisions that have cost the City. They work for the Mayor and not the City and that has been obvious for several years. If only the citizens knew the close relationship Marx and Lichit have you would understand this raise.


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Our government officials definitely fit Einstein’s definition of insanity… “Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”

More raises for less work. Same old $hit, different day.


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San Luis Obispo city/county government: Come for the weather, stay for the money.


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City Council is responsible for this and Mayor Jan Marx is leading the charge.


PLEASE write your objections to EMAILCOUNCIL@SLOCITY.ORG

———————————————————————-


From the City Council Agenda Report:


“Council met with the consultant in closed session on March 23, 2016 to discuss the appointed officials’ performance and compensation.


“Council concluded that the appointed officials had performed admirably and accomplished the 2015-16 goals provided by Council.


“A review of market comparisons indicated the appointed officials are paid within five percent of the market median and therefore, Council is not adjusting the base compensation of either appointed official.


“The market data also reinforces the cost of turnover, as it increases more significantly when cities are faced with replacing difficult to find, city manager and city attorney skill sets.


“Accordingly, Council concluded a $5,000 lump-sum retention incentive was appropriate for both the City Manager and City Attorney.


“FISCAL IMPACT

The proposed compensation adjustments can be absorbed in the City’s current budget and are accommodated in the 2015-17 financial plan.”


——————

Do not re-elect Jan Marx in 2016!


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Also on tonight’s City of SLO agenda is the Self Help County Tax Proposal! Mayor Jan Marx and the rest of the council, with the possible exception of Dan Carpenter, will all support the tax. It’s only your money!


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What these grossly selfish, narcissistic people don’t understand is that there are the imperfect, which includes all of us, then there is the select few who in common street terms, are assholes.


They take and take, with an eye on what is left to take. Enter Adam Hill, Bruce Gibson, Lee Collins, Tracy Schiro, Michael Blank, Lisa Solomon…………………………


Integrity means nothing. More money. More power. “Who do I have to step on to grab it?”


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~!@#$%^&*()_+ YOU SLO City Council! This is because of YOU!


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Our city is technically insolvent, owing on bonds ($60+ million) and PERS debt ($145+million). WHere is that money going to come from?


We need to put a cap on city salaries – certainly no higher than that of the governor. People will stand in line to apply for a city job here.


“We only hire the best and the brightest.”?? Seriously? Looking around I don’t see a lot of proof of that. I do see a lot of washed-up cronies filling positions from which they were fired in other cities.


These two and many more could be replace din a heartbeat with better qualified people for far less money. Just advertise and see!


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Puerto Rico is going bankruptcy as they have a $40 billion pension debt in addition to $70 billion bonds. They voted a couple of years back not to become a State of the United States but stay as a territory with all the same benefits (voting, social security, etc) and now they want us to bail out their pension problem.


No to this Council and NO to Puerto Rico!


I am waiting to see what Paul Ryan and Congress is going to do to bail out but I want to see Jan Marx stopped before this happens to us. Unfortunately, no one is running against her, AGAIN!


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The City Planning and Building Department historically recruits the most inept and incompetent people they can. Then they promote them. The great thing is that all you have to do is hire one of their staff on the side and pay them $300 an hour for 40 hours work and poof your project is approved, or ADA requirements go out the door. Inspectors at SLOtown are notoriously on the take.


Onto L & D – simply criminals. They have made some many blundering decisions during their reign of terror that the community pays for in lawsuits and out of court settlements. Pay attention to how much money goes out the door to consulting attorney’s to fend off the lawsuits during the past 5 years. Great job dicktrick and lichturd.


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Every time I read this stuff I wish I could share it with my great grandparents. And today I am no longer questioning my move to an unincorporated home in the South County.


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I don’t live in the city of slo but in the county part and glad of it except that I have Adam Hill and he is part of that cabal. Dan Carpenter is the only sane one on the city council and I hope he gets out and becomes my supervisor.


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