Jeffersonville mayor, council disagree on hiring

Clark County

Discussion

February 8, 2012

By DAVID A. MANN David.Mann@newsandtribune.com The News and Tribune Wed Feb 08, 2012, 03:18 AM EST

JEFFERSONVILLE — Jeffersonville Mayor Mike Moore is vowing to veto legislation passed by the Jeffersonville City Council this week that defunded some key administration positions.

The council voted to consolidate nine city positions, including a communications director, electrical and building inspectors, a grant writer, a redevelopment assistant, economic director and a code enforcement officer, among others.

Council President Ed Zastawny said the positions were cut because Moore had indicated he was not going to fill them. Moore filled three of the jobs — Leah Farris was to be communication director; Kelly Reed, was going to fill the redevelopment assistant position; and Delynn Rutherford was hired as grant writer.

Moore said he believed the council’s decision to defund the positions was an attack on him.

“I think they were more interested in taking out some hard feelings on me,” he said. “I’m hopeful the council recognizes the mistake and corrects it.”

Early on, Moore had indicated that some of those positions would not be filled, most notably the communications director spot. City attorney Les Merkley had been named as the city’s primary communication agent. However, Moore said he changed his mind last week and appointed Farris to that position in order to appease the council, which he thought was in favor of having a full-time communications director.

“That’s all news to us,” Zastawny said. “We moved forward thinking these positions were unfilled.”

Moore said he would veto the legislation, but include a recommendation that the three already hired positions be funded. Zastawny said the council would consider that recommendation.

With a companion ordinance, the council also updated the city’s hiring policy for nonunion employees. Specifically, the change said new hires should be paid the minimum of their position’s pay grade, unless otherwise agreed upon by the council. The pay grades were accepted by the council after a wage study last year.

Every hire Moore has made since the beginning of the year has been above the minimum pay grade, Zastawny said.

Moore said the policy did away with the flexibility that former mayor Tom Galligan had when hiring. Zastawny said Galligan used to communicate with them when hiring new people.

It’s not the first time the issue of communication between the council and Moore has been raised. In the last week, the two sides have sparred over parks issues, with each citing communication problems.

Up until this year, council members and the mayor have communicated with each other during council meetings, over which the mayor has historically presided. Because of a classification change which took the council from a third-class to a second-class city, the duty of presiding over the meeting has been handed off to the council president.

This year, Moore has not participated in city council meetings, though members of his administration — attorneys or department heads — have been there. Moore was at Monday’s meeting.

In New Albany, which is also a second-class city, former mayor Doug England didn’t always attend council meetings either. Their new mayor Jeff Gahan has gone to the first couple, but wasn’t at Monday’s meeting.