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City administrator job scrutinized

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Joe Salitros

DELAVAN — City Administrator Joe Salitros hasn’t been fired, but his job description and salary are under scrutiny by the city council.

The city council voted in closed session Monday to hire an employment consultant/facilitator to revise the city administrator’s job description after voting 4-2 at a special meeting May 13 not to renew Salitros’ three-year contract, which expires Dec. 31.

The contract includes an automatic renewal clause, which states that unless the city council takes action by June 30, the contract is automatically renewed for another three years.

Alderman John Finley said the city council’s decision had nothing to do with Salitros’ job performance.

“We didn’t do that against Mr. Salitros,” he said. “We did it for the citizens.

“If we did not do that by the end of the month, we would have automatically signed him up for another three years for a third of a million dollars in pay and benefits. It’s not that I begrudge him that, but it’s a big decision.”

Alderman Dave Kilkenny said he voted not to renew Salitros’ contract to give the city “a clean sheet.”

“It seems that both parties are probably looking for some modifications to that contract,” he said. “I just want to make sure we didn’t have any encumbrances on the old contract to give the city a fresh start.”

Salitros said he’s not interested in changing the contract.

“I would have liked to have them renew it for three years,” he said.

Salitros requested the city council extend his contract by one year and nine days, taking him to his three-year anniversary Jan. 9, 2010.

“I was of the understanding that they would consider negotiating, and that’s what I offered them,” he said.

But the city council denied Salitros’ request, and neither Finley nor Kilkenny would specify what they would change about the contract.

Finley said the city administrator’s job description needs an update. The description, he said, should better reflect the relationship between the city administrator and the city council.

According to Delavan municipal code, the city administrator is directly responsible to the city council.

Finley said the city council should be “more in control and more in the loop” with regard to how city money is spent.

“We may have been actually asking him to do more than we should have been asking him.”

According to municipal code, the city administrator’s responsibilities are broad, from serving as comptroller to overseeing a number of city departments.

“I want to redefine the scope of his job and have a lot more cooperation between him and us in dealing with developers and other important questions of city finance,” Finley said.

While he still has a job as city administrator through the end of the year, Salitros said he has no idea what the city council’s intentions are.

“They have not met with me,” he said. “That is unusual.”