Colfax council rejects pay bump for next manager

Colfax City Council members Monday night rejected a proposal to increase the pay for the city administrator’s position. The proposal had been presented to the council by Mayor Todd Vanek as part of the process in hiring a new city administrator.

Mayor Vanek two weeks ago said the council’s decision on the proposal would be relayed to Michael Patterson, the lead applicant for the Colfax administrator’s job.

After deciding to keep the current pay scale, city council members met in executive session for 25 minutes to discuss the qualifications for the city administrator. The regular meeting resumed with an announcement that “no decision” had been reached on the hiring, and Mayor Vanek said he will go ahead and report the council’s decision on the pay level to Patterson who is currently city administrator at Florence, Colo.

Vanek said he will have the option of hiring Patterson if the applicant decides to take the job at the current pay level. The mayor added he believes the current Colfax pay level would actually be less than what Patterson is now making at Florence.

Council members before the extended executive session said they had received calls and e-mails from residents on the city administrator hiring prior to the meeting. Last week the Gazette reported an account of Patterson’s 2008 dismissal from the administrator’s job in Redmond, Ore., following an assault conviction. Patterson was asked to resign at Redmond after he pleaded guilty to two charges of domestic violence assault and was given a deferred sentence.

When contacted by the Gazette, Patterson later said the outcome of the Redmond case was the result of a plea bargain agreement. He said no assault actually took place in the incident which involved his former wife.

Mayor Vanek said he was aware of the 2008 Redmond case at the time he selected Patterson as the top Colfax applicant. He said he viewed the Redmond dismissal as a singular episode in an otherwise solid career posted by Patterson at other towns.

Council members last night said they didn’t want to hike the city administrator pay grade as part of the closing process in hiring a top applicant. They noted the pay grade should remain as advertised at the start of the hiring process.

Councilman Al Vorderbrueggen said the city’s posting of the job could have attracted other applicants if it had been posted with a higher pay level.

“It should all be done ahead of time and not put the cart before the horse,” he commented.

Council member Jim Kackman said he didn’t want to hike the salary as part of closing negotiations with an applicant. He described that as a “pitfall in the public sector.”

Vanek said the pay offer will be $6,309 per month. He noted the Colfax pay grade ranks third from the bottom for administrator pay in towns of similar size in the state.

Former Councilman David Nails attended last night’s session and said he had received several calls on the administrator hiring. He said he had some concerns about the financial load involved with a pay hike. Nails noted the last time an administrator was hired the council had a big part in the process and urged the present council to support the mayor in his efforts to hire an administrator.

Vanek earlier in the meeting announced that Carl Thompson, former administrator, is no longer serving as interim administrator. Thompson is now a full-time administrator for the fire department.