Council OKs annual raises for Norwalk’s 2 registrars of voters

NORWALK — The city’s two registrars of voters will be getting annual pay raises following action by the Common Council on Tuesday evening.

“There have been some inequities in the past,” said Councilwoman Barbara Smyth, an at-large Democrat who chairs the council’s Personnel Committee. “Because of the elected nature of their positions, they have only been entitled to increases every other year as opposed to annually as so many of our employees have been and so they’ve fallen a little behind if you look at what other towns are doing.”

Since Dec. 31, 2016, Democratic Registrar Stuart W. Wells and Republican Registrar Karen Doyle Lyons have each had a salary of $57,105. Under the city’s old pay plan, they’ll see their salaries increase to $58,818 on Dec. 31, 2018, according to Norwalk Director of Personnel and Labor Relations Ray Burney.

Under the measure approved unanimously the council Tuesday evening, their salaries will increase 2.36 percent, from $58,818 to $60,206, on Jan. 1, 2019, and another 2.36 percent, from $60,206 to $61,627, on July 1, 2019. Thereafter, their salaries will be increased on the same date and at the same rate as those of roughly 20 senior-level city managers and administrators whose positions are defined by ordinance.

Mayor Harry W. Rilling said Personnel Committee members put much thought and understanding into the proposal.

“Up until now, the registrar of voters did not get an annual pay increase,” Rilling said. “It was kind of left up to everybody’s kind of whim. Now they can be assured that each year going forward they will get the same increase as the Ordinance employees.”

Wells and Doyle Lyons have pleaded to the council for years to boost their pay. Wells has served since 2008, Doyle Lyons well over a decade. Each made their case to the Personnel Committee on Oct. 17 with Wells telling the panel that he and Doyle Lyons lag roughly $10,000 behind their counterparts in comparative-sized cities in terms of salaries.

Wells didn’t raise the salary issue before the full council at City Hall on Tuesday evening. Instead, he summarized efficiencies he and Doyle Lyons have achieved in their office. That includes “scrounging” 30 voting booths from Darien to accommodate Norwalk’s growing number of registered voters — up 20 percent over the last four years.

“We got 30 voting booths from them for the cost of coming down there and picking them up,” Wells said.

The booth normally would have cost $200 each, according to Wells.

In addition, Wells continued, the registrars’ office “scrounged” four additional ballot tabulators, which normally run about $6,000 each, at a cost of $10 each plus new batteries and normal servicing.

In other business Tuesday evening, the council approved nearly unanimously a 2.36 percent salary increase and $50,000 bonus pool for the 20 ordinance employees. The increase will exclude six employees who were recently hired or had their titles changed as part of Rilling’s reorganization of city government.

At-Large Republican Douglas E. Hempstead voted ‘No.’ District B Democrat Ernie Dumas abstained.

While the pay increase and bonus pool match those of previous years, the Personnel Committee has directed Burney to come up with a structured evaluation process for employees eligible for the bonus money.

“The mayor may award up to 5 percent of an eligible employee’s salary as a bonus and no more than that to any individual employee,” Smyth said. “While in general we supported that, we also have a caveat and we have charged our personnel director, Mr. Burney, with creating an evaluation system for those bonuses so that there is a more structured system for awarding them.”

Burney said he will present that system to the committee in April 2019.

Rilling welcomed the effort while praising the ordinance employees.

“It is critically important that we make sure we evaluate in a manner which is effective,” Rilling said. “I know for sure and for a fact that I’ve worked with these employees for five years now, and I can state unequivocally that they are good, hardworking, dedicated employees who give everything they have to the city of Norwalk.”

Diane Lauricella, who lives in Norwalk, emailed Rilling and council members on Tuesday afternoon, urging them not send the pay upgrade back to the Personal Committee “until the Mayor's office compiles some information about each position, with highlights, performance concerns and goals for the coming year AND sends this information to the Personnel Committee for their review.”