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After an item regarding a pay raise for Marshalltown City Administrator Carol Webb was pulled from the consent agenda at Monday night's meeting, the city council narrowly agreed to approve a four-percent raise despite pushback from several public commenters.
Webb, who was appointed to her position in the summer of 2024, was hired at an annual salary of $195,000 and has received two three-percent Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA) increases since then but declined a raise after her performance review last year, instead accepting an extra week of vacation. Thus, her annual salary is currently $206,876 not including benefits.
Councilor Greg Nichols explained that he requested the item to be pulled from the agenda because Webb, who was home sick with the flu during Monday night's meeting, had sent an email to the council suggesting a four percent raise over the next year instead of five.
"She has 23 years of public service, six years as a city administrator, and her review showed that she's done a very good job and doing a good job," he said. "And especially with budget constraints and everything like that, we're to a place where we need some steady leadership."
From there, Nichols made a motion to amend the raise to four percent, and Joleen Ballard then came forward to criticize the council for "handing out money like it's candy." Tim Bradbury said that he felt Webb was doing a good job but was already making more than enough to survive and suggested cutting salaries instead.
Layne Pieri sought clarification on Webb not receiving a raise the year before, with Nichols noting that she did receive extra vacation, and also asked for details on the numbers. A four percent increase from $206,876 would bring her up to $215,151 annually. After Councilor Gary Thompson explained how Webb's benefits package would also increase with the raise, Pieri asked how her total compensation package compared to administrators in similarly sized cities, and Mayor Mike Ladehoff said it would bring her close to the middle.
"City administrators are getting harder and harder to find. There are cities that have had to put out job searches three, four times. Many people are getting away from the city administrator jobs just because of the financial pressures from the state and everything else makes their job (hard). So if you get a good one, you'd better keep 'em," Ladehoff said.
Nichols didn't feel that the city would ever be able to pay Webb at the top level for communities this size, but if they keep the salary in the middle, they'll be more likely to keep her long-term. Ladehoff added that her performance review was "excellent" but told Pieri the details remained confidential.
"If you look at everything that's going on right now in town and being able to keep on top of that, that takes a special person. It really does, someone who's a pro who knows what they're doing because a million dollar mistake can happen just like that, a missed deadline, anything else like that, and Carol, in my opinion, does an excellent job for this city. We oughta be so glad to have her," the mayor said.
Pieri said his main concern was that the average annual salary in Marshalltown is around $60,000, and he worried about the city administrator "losing touch" with the residents.
"I think, for the experience that you have to have, the education that you have to have plus the responsibilities that you have to have, not many people in town have that," Ladehoff replied. "For people of that caliber in town, that's (an) apples and oranges (comparison)."
Lonnie Hogeland urged the council to consider its limited budget while adding that good employees are currently hard to find. The motion to amend the raise to four percent passed by a 5-2 vote with Thompson and Mark Mitchell opposed, and the motion to approve the four percent raise passed 4-3 with Councilor Marco Yepez-Gomez joining the no voters.
Contact Robert Maharry at (641) 753-6611 ext. 255 or rmaharry@timesrepublican.com.