Brentwood Mayor Chris Thornton plans to address the board of aldermen at the meeting Tuesday night on the state of the city and the 2016 budget. Thornton sent the text of his message to the board, and also to 40 South News.
Below are the first two paragraphs of Thornton’s address on the state of the city. Read the full address here.
Below are the first two paragraphs of Thornton’s address on the budget for 2016. Read the full address here.
Read Thornton’s full address here.
Justin,
This all looks to me like a move within city govt. to get the dogs called off and get back to tossing the tax money around in whatever way the powers that be see fit. There’s a cohort in and around city hall that has made a concerted effort to smear anyone who questions the way these folks want to do business. I don’t know any of these people, so I could be wrong, but judging by past management catastrophes, I think vigilance and scrutiny should be the watchwords for anyone who doesn’t want to get ripped off. The only reason I can come up with for the visceral hatred of anyone who questions city expenditures is money. By that I mean that they want to destroy these questioners because they threaten the flow of tax money to certain people who very much want to keep the money flowing. I could be way off base, but that’s the way it looks from here.
YES. YES. and YES. Thank you for articulating how the facade of competency will fool a lot of the people,who do not track the pattern of thinking and translate them into the unintentional consequences. The net of this unquestioning lemming herd will meet the response as: Oh well…i’ll be in and out before this catches up to me. We need community stability and much better talent in the area of suburban city planning. The new skunk emits the same toxic odor as the old one. Is this really what we have become? That is genuinely not clear. your successful attempt to shed light on the area of bureaucratic waste and commercial overbuilding will certainly be torn to shreds to those who are “just passing through”–not the true community of Brentwood. love,m.
Looks like the Mayor just needs to answer a few questions and it will get passed. Might have been a better at the last meeting instead of insulting the Board that they could not read a budget. So much for strong leadership from the Mayor’s seat.
Mayor Thornton
Thank you for this detailed memo. I am thrilled that the city is moving in a positive direction and happy to have been part of the city’s accomplishments. From initiating the state audit and the moment I took office I pushed for a new auditor, compensation study, financial policies manual, comprehensive plan, updated financial software as well as a city oriented database to track residents concerns. I discussed these issues with you when you were running for Mayor. I explained how the Board Chambers didn’t even have wifi and our software was antiquated. I am happy many of these issues have been addressed.
I have one criticism of your memo. You mentioned that Alderman Saunders, Leahy, Manestar and Lochmueller voted no for the budget and had no suggestions to modify the budget. If you were listening to the reason and had responded to earlier emails the question in point was the $362,0000 in employee raises and how the raises going to be implemented. Last year’s raises were only $195,000 although the firemen received only 1% due to the unearned overtime issue, however, even with 1% they firemen the firemen still are the highest paid in the market. The compensation study showed approximately 19 positions which equates to approximately 50 employees are presently paid at top of market. The question asked repeatedly of staff and you during the meeting regarding the budget was how was the $362,000 in raises being implemented. We were asking if salaries over the 75th percentile were being frozen, if not were the employees at the top of market being frozen. Your answer was that we didn’t need to know that level of detail. You claimed Bola and you understood and that was sufficient. You failed to convene the needed workshops to discuss compensation and bullied through the pay plan refusing to reply to my emails.
The budget could have been passed if staff and you clarified the $362,000 in raises and the definitions in the compensation bill. You claimed the city attorney drafted it, the two aldermen with CPAs, Slusser & Toohey, approved it and implied that some of the aldermen couldn’t read a budget especially if they didn’t have a CPA. My husband is a marketing major and he prepares budgets.
Tonight the detail of how the $362,000 in raises were distributed should be provided and a comparison to the market and prior year salaries. This is basic financial and public information which should be utilized in making compensation decisions.
The Board decides what amount or percentage raise an employee is permitted to earn. Whether an employee earns that raise is completely up to staff and we should not be involved. Knowing what raises are permitted and how the new compensation bill will impact salaries by position is basic information that should be used by the Board in making compensation cities.
The Board legislates.
Mayor Thornton you stated that you were not part of the compensation decision. You stated it was the Board’s decision. You told us just to make it rational and sustainable. Staff and you execute our legislation. It seems whenever a vote doesn’t go your way you take to the media instead of sitting down with the aldermen or convening a workshop.
I assume tonight we will have the needed information to make a decision. Again the aldermen’s decisions.
ALDERWOMAN MAUREEN SAUNDERS