Over the objections of a handful of residents and one council member, the City Council gave Seal Beach City Manager Jill Ingram a $7,500 merit pay raise this week. Her base salary will now be about $223,000.
District Four Councilman Gary Miller voted against the pay raise and District Three Councilman Mike Varipapa abstained.
Miller moved to have Ingram fired, but the motion failed for lack of a second.
But Ingram had defenders at the meeting. One resident said there was no other city where you could have a “coffee chat” with the city manager.
District Two Councilman David Sloan said Seal Beach has a balanced budget and city employees that love their jobs. He said Ingram was part of them.
Mayor Sandra Massa-Lavitt, a former Seal Beach interim director of development, said that Ingram has surrounded herself with smart people. She said she supports Ingram totally.
District One Councilwoman Ellery Deaton, reading a prepared statement, said Seal Beach had been run well under Ingram’s leadership for the last five years.
Ingram last received a pay raise in September 2013.
Deaton also said the pay raise puts Ingram’s salary at the middle range of beach cities of similar size.
One Seal Beach resident also called for Ingram’s removal. But three council members expressed support for her. Ingram did not respond to the negative comments during the meeting, but took notes.
According to Miller, since August he had received calls and emails from former city employees concerning allegations of a hostile workplace. Miller also said he gave a report to the consultant who recommended Ingram’s merit pay increase included a list of instances of what Miller called poor judgment, lack of transparency, mistreatment of employees and of Miller.
Speaking against Ingram, College Park East resident Patty Campbell, said Ingram demands an oath of loyalty to her first and the city second.
Campbell, reading a prepared statement, specifically accused two department heads, Community Development Director Jim Basham and City Finance Director/Treasurer Vicky Beatley, of creating hostile workplaces for employees.
“Jill, I have to lay this all at your feet as you are the city manager,” Campbell said. “You set the tone. You don’t speak with people you don’t like—you simply ignore them.”
During public comment, Robert Goldberg repeated past concerns about Ingram’s judgment.
The Sun compared Orange County city manager salaries based on information from the California Controller’s Office. Ingram’s new base annual salary of about $223,000 put her near the 2014 median of $238,679. (The Controller’s Office figures included base pay, bonuses and overtime. Benefits were calculated separately.) The highest paid city manger was in Santa Ana at $338,004 and the lowest was the part-time city manager of Los Alamitos, at $12,375.
According to the Controller’s Office, the Avalon city manager on Catalina received $177,500 in 2014. He was fired from his position last year.
