Chattanooga City Councilman Russell Gilbert today questioned the legality of Mayor Ron Littlefield suspending some pay for six city administrators without council approval.
“That might be an issue,” he said. “He should have [come] to the City Council.”
Since 1998, six city employees have received extra compensation of $400 a month in lieu of driving city-owned cars, city officials said.
They are Chief Financial Officer Daisy Madison, Personnel Director Donna Kelley, Parks and Recreation Director Larry Zehnder, Administrator of Neighborhood Services Beverly Johnson, Bob Colby, head of the Air Pollution Control Bureau, and City Judge Russell Bean.
Richard Beeland, spokesman for the mayor, said the $400 allowance was adopted for 15 people whose city-owned cars were taken away in a 1998 budget move.
Only six of those still work for the city, Beeland said.
Mayor Ron Littlefield on Wednesday suspended the $400 allowance for all six.
Beeland said it didn’t seem fair for them to be compensated when other city employees were being charged for take-home cars.
“Everybody is going to be paying mileage, including the mayor,” Beeland said., saying
But Gilbert said the mayor should have come to the council to seek a change in the compensation ordinance rather than making an arbitrary change.
Beeland said the mayor is seeking an opinion from the city attorney’s office on the legality of suspending some compensation that is in the pay ordinance without council approval.
See Friday’s Times Free Press for complete coverage.