Sterling Heights city manager gets a 23% pay raise
The Sterling Heights city manager is getting a 23% pay raise next year, making him the third highest-paid city administrator of comparable cities in Michigan.
The City Council, in a 4-3 vote Tuesday, approved a raise of $37,950 for Mark Vanderpool, who has served as city manager for more than 16 years. He will earn $202,950 effective Jan. 1, up from his current base salary of $165,000. His last raise came just over 31⁄ years ago,
2 officials said.
City Attorney Marc Kaszubski said Vanderpool’s current base salary of $165,000 is below that of city managers or administrators of similar cities, including Grand Rapids ($257,500), Ann Arbor ($223,600) and Troy ($167,500) and just above Farmington Hills ($163,200).
It’s also below the median base salary for cities with a population range of 100,000 to 249,999, according to an International City/
County Management Association survey,
Sterling Heights is the state’s fourth largest city, with an estimated population of 132,438, but has been teetering on becoming the third largest city, surpassing neighboring Warren, which has a strong mayor form of government.
Vanderpool’s salary next year will be higher than that of Macomb County Executive Mark Hackel, who is set to be paid $171,628 in 2021, and Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan, who is
paid $189,301. The 2020 fiscal year salary for the Oakland County executive was $205,217.
During his tenure, Vanderpool has helped guide Sterling Heights through the financial challenge of the Great Recession and the near loss of Chrysler’s Sterling Heights Assembly Plant, which was retooled and now builds the popular Ram 1500 pickup.
He currently is working on the revamping of Lakeside Mall, in what could be a $1 billion project, as well as helping to transform recreation and transportation projects and renovate city buildings.
“Together, we have accomplished so much, but there is so much more to do,” Vanderpool told the council members before their lengthy discussion and vote.
No one from the public commented during the discussion about Vanderpool’s contract.
Mayor Michael Taylor and council members Barbara Ziarko, Maria Schmidt and Henry Yanez voted yes. Council members Deanna Koski, Michael Radtke and Liz Sierawski vote no.
Ziarko apologized to residents for the council not handling Vanderpool’s raises incrementally and to Vanderpool for not looking into this sooner. She called him the “quarterback” of the organization.
“The timing is only bad because we should have done this years ago,” Taylor said, adding that having Vanderpool shored up for the next several years is a benefit to the residents. “If now is not the right time, when is?”
Taylor said if Vanderpool were to leave, the city would “pay at least this much money to his replacement.” He said Vanderpool is worth the money, and he would “shudder to think what we (would) do without out him.”
Sierawski said she wasn’t against giving Vanderpool a raise, but possibly $10,000 now and and $10,000 in each of the next two years, instead of nearly $40,000 all at once.
Radtke agreed, saying residents are struggling and have their lives on hold because of the coronavirus pandemic.
“We have to share the pain. We have to tighten our belt,” he said. “I think it’s tone deaf and it’s hypocritical.”
Yanez said Vanderpool is referred to as “the godfather” by other city managers.
“He has shown he can lead this city in the past, and he can lead it in the future,” Yanez said. “We need strong, steady and respected leadership, and we need it down the road. We certainly need it now.”