Top Town Employees Called Outstanding; Volunteer to Take Zero Increase

Two of the town’s top employees took zero percent salary increases during their salary reviews for the upcoming year during the Town Council’s last meeting. Town Manager Kathy Eagen and Town Clerk Paula Ray not only accepted the zeros, Town Council Chairman Mike Clark noted, they asked for them.

Ray was up for a salary review during a special meeting June 15, during which Eagen was slated for a performance review from the Town Council. Both have been in their positions about a dozen years.

The Town Manager conducts the performance review of the Town Clerk.

“Almost all of us feel Paula does an outstanding job but her actual review is done by Kathy,” Clark explained.

The town clerk is responsible for overseeing and keeping a variety of records pertaining to the town including land records and property transactions, vital records like births, marriages and deaths. The town clerk’s office, which Ray oversees with the help of three assistants, issues marriage and civil union licenses, dog and fishing licenses, handles municipal elections, including processing absentee ballots, and registers trade names. Ray records the minutes at Town Council meetings, swears in elected officials and can often be seen reminding officials of proper protocol.

Ray’s salary for this year and the upcoming year is $89,940.

Eagen is like the town’s CEO, overseeing all the day-to-day operations of the town, including all the management and finances of town departments. Preparation of the town budget is the largest single task of the town manager and though she provides the Town Council with knowledge, insight and recommendations, she tailors the budget to the council’s vision and preference. Clark said she is judged by how well she is executing the town’s strategic plan.

“Her performance is outstanding,” Clark said. “The overall rating we gave her was ‘exceeds expectations.’ Almost all of us thought she did a marvelous job and we’re very fortunate to have such a dedicated, hard-working town manager in Farmington.”

Clark noted that Eagen had almost exactly matched the budget target set by the Town Council for town side of the budget and that thanks to the work Eagen and Finance Director Joseph Swetcky have done, the town attained a AAA credit rating from Moody’s Investors Services.

Plus, he joked, “she’s got the answers that make us all look good.”

“They both came in and said ‘we hope you think we did a good job, this is what we did, but we’re willing to take no raise because we understand it’s difficult times.'”

The council moved to extend Eagen’s contract until June 30, 2015. Her salary for 2011-2012 and the previous year is $137,928.

School Superintendent

On June 13, the Board of Education evaluated Superintendent of Schools Kathleen Greider. The board voted unanimously to renew Greider's contract through June 30, 2014 and approved a 2.35 percent increase in her salary for the 2011-2012 year. In an article in The Hartford Courant, Board of Education Chairman Mary Grace Reed explained that Greider's work has been excellent.