By Robert Haugh
Santa Clara’s top two appointed officials are getting raises and retroactive pay because the City Council did not complete their performance reviews on time.
City Manager Jovan Grogan and City Attorney Glen Googins both received automatic two (2) percent increases under their employment agreements.
According to the City staff report, the raises were triggered because the Council did not complete the performance appraisal process by May 31. Wow.
Grogan’s total annual compensation is now estimated at about $627,000.
Googins’ total annual compensation is now estimated at about $567,000.
Combined, Santa Clara taxpayers are now paying about $1.19 million in annual total compensation for the City Manager and City Attorney. Double wow.
The Council approved the salary plan at the June 23 meeting on a 6-1 vote.
Councilmembers Raj Chahal, Kelly Cox, Albert Gonzalez, Karen Hardy, Suds Jain and Kevin Park voted yes.
Mayor Lisa Gillmor voted no.
The raises are also retroactive.
Grogan will receive a retroactive wage payment of about $994. Googins will receive a retroactive wage payment of about $2,280.
The combined retroactive payments total about $3,274.
This is the latest chapter in SCNO’s reporting on the growing cost of Santa Clara’s executive offices.
Last August, SCNO reported in “SPECIAL REPORT, PART 1: Santa Clara’s City Executive Salaries Reach Record Level” that Santa Clara had “the largest and most expensive City Manager’s Office in city history.”
In September, SCNO followed up with “SPECIAL REPORT, PART 2: Santa Clara Buries Total Pay Data About the Most Expensive City Manager’s Office in City History”. That story showed how the City made it difficult for residents to see total compensation data for top executives.
In January, SCNO reported that Grogan’s total pay was nearing $630,000, making him the third-highest-paid city manager in California, according to the City’s own compensation consultant. That story is here: “Santa Clara City Manager’s Total Pay Nears $630K, Third-Highest in California”.
Residents noticed.
In February, SCNO reported that residents signing the Suds Jain recall petition were also speaking out about Grogan’s pay. Jain was described as the key vote that helped make Grogan the third-highest-paid city manager in the state. That story is here: “Santa Clara Residents Sign Up, Speak Out Against Suds Jain and City Manager’s $630K Salary”.
The retroactive pay also stands out for another reason.
In April, the Council approved a new firefighters contract but denied firefighters retroactive pay on a 3-3 vote. SCNO’s story is here: “Santa Clara City Council Approves Firefighters, But Denies Them Retroactive Pay on 3-3 Vote”.
Gillmor and Cox pushed to make the firefighters’ raise retroactive. Gonzalez supported them. But Hardy, Jain and Park voted no. Chahal was absent.
Firefighters got the raise, but they did not get the retroactive pay.
Santa Clara’s City Manager and City Attorney did.
And they got it without a performance review.
[…] Grogan’s compensation total is approximately $630,000 annually. […]
A few years ago, when the city council dumped our last city manager and city attorney, the charge led by Suds, they claimed it was because they were paid too much. Now we can see the city council used this an excuse to fill their positions with our current cm and ca who would be yes men for the council and Jed York. The current city manager has bloated his admininstration with hires such as the newly created position of PIO (press info officer) who makes a quarter of million dollars each year. I could not tell you the last time I saw our press info officer give a news conference. $250,000 salary a year for the position though. What an unnecessary appointment and wonder why it was made to begin with???
Civil Grand Jury notified