Liberty trustee balking at law director's request for 10% raise

LIBERTY

A township trustee is concerned about a proposed 10 percent increase for the law director’s pay, citing the township’s fiscal-caution status.

A resolution on the agenda draft for Monday’s trustees meeting proposes increasing Law Director Cherry Poteet’s compensation from $3,000 to $3,300 per month.

Trustee Jodi Stoyak said she didn’t know a potential increase would be voted on until she received a copy of the draft last month. She said she asked the other trustees – Arnie Clebone and Greg Cizmar – to take the resolution off the agenda as they hadn’t discussed the increase as a board.

Clebone said Poteet requested the increase because she is getting compensated $3,500 a month in Weathersfield, where she also serves as law director.

Clebone said Poteet requested $3,500 but accepted $3,300. He said the request will be discussed at Monday’s meeting, and possibly Thursday's 7:30 a.m. meeting.

Stoyak voted against hiring Poteet last April because the board had not discussed selecting her before voting on it, she has said.

Stoyak is opposed to the pay raise in part because other union and nonunion employees weren’t given raises in recent years, she said. She noted the township has had to take out loans for the police budget every year to cover what she called the police department’s “exorbitant salaries and benefits.”

Read more about the matter in Thursday's Vindicator or on Vindy.com.