Familiar faces top list of RB's top paid employees

by Jason Dietrich

Nine of 1998's 10 best-paid employees of the City of Redondo Beach were once again the top earners in 1999.

Former City Manager Paul Connolly topped the list, earning a total of $157,643 in the calendar year of 1999. Connolly, who was appointed to the Redondo Beach School Board last week, was a longtime employee of the planning department before being named city manager. The only other city hall staff members on the list were City Attorney Jerry Goddard, earning $125,556, and Director of Recreation and Community Services, Susan Armstrong, who earned $115,156. Armstrong was the only woman in the top 10.

Last year, Goddard earned more with his regular earnings than second on the list, Fire Chief Pat Aust. But by the time vehicle allowances were factored in, un-used leave time was cashed out and other benefits were added on, Aust had nudged Goddard out of the number two spot.

Aust, who is not eligible for overtime pay, was one of four fire department personnel who were among the top ten. Of the four who did make it, two of them, fire fighter Robert Herrera and Fire Captain Mitch Wybenga, owed a significant portion of their earnings to overtime pay, said Karyn Ezell, Human Resources Director for the city of Redondo Beach.

"We had four vacancies at the firefighter level in 1999, which contributed to a substantial amount of overtime in the department," said Ezell.

With the benefit of overtime pay and other add-ins, Herrera was able to almost double his regular earnings of $57,516 to take in $113,185, more than two of the department's division chiefs and all nine of the captains.

The reason firefighters are able to rack up tens of thousands of dollars in overtime pay is fire department's constant staffing profile, Aust said. The department hires only enough fire suppression personnel to fill its shifts. When a firefighter is sick or on vacation, that hole is filled with a firefighter on overtime. The cost of bringing in fire fighters on overtime is the same bringing additional personnel onto the staff, said Aust. The spike in overtime costs was offset by the salaries and benefits of four firefighters that the city wasn't paying Aust added.

"It's a wash. Both the costs and the number of people on duty stay constant. So we're paying the same amount of money to fewer people. Herrera ended up working more than double the hours he was scheduled," Aust said.

The department held off on filling the four vacancies in its ranks since it was in the midst of a two-year long negotiation with the firefighter's union. The department and the union ended up agreeing to keep the number of personnel the same, but hire three more paramedics instead of firefighters. That change, funded in part by a grant from the Beach Cities Health District allowed the fire department to expand the number of paramedic units in the city to five, Aust said.

In the police department, the top brass were the only ones in the top paid city employees. Police Chief Mel Nichols was the fourth best-paid city official. Captain Jeff Cameron made more than Nichols in regular earnings. But when all the other perks were added in, Chief Nichols ended up earning slightly more, even though the police department's ranking officers aren't eligible for overtime.

"But the city allows us to work as many extra hours as we like," joked Cameron. ER