Concord City Manager Receives ‘Satisfactory’ Review, 2.5% Raise, But Sabbatical Request Gets Trimmed

Schultz said she “highly respects” Aspell, too, but there was a “dissonance between reality” when eyeing what the public and city employees were earning.

Ward 6 City Council Aislinn Kalob, too, would not be voting for the increase, saying it had been “heavily on my mind since we’ve had our nonpublic sessions,” which lasted about six hours of work. She appreciated Kretovic clearly outlining the job of city manager. But people were frustrated with the city manager, and she saw that in the comments in online forums.

“I do feel, after really digging into this, and learning about his job,” she said, “and thinking toward the future when, eventually, at some point, somebody new will be sitting in that seat, we are the ones who direct policy and he is the one that implements it… there is anger out there that should be directed more toward us.”

Kalob said, too, a room full of firefighters, upset about their contract, also made voting for the wage increase something she could not consider.

Michele Horne of Ward 2 echoed similar concerns to Schultz, saying there was significant “wage disparity” between the public and staff and the city manager. She also agreed with Kalob’s point that previous councils created this contract.