New County Manager Starts Today
After more than eight months without a full-time county manager, all seven Dukes County commissioners signed a three-year, $71,750 contract with E. Winn Davis of Falmouth, the county's new manager, during a brief meeting last Thursday.
Mr. Davis, executive secretary of the town of Hanson, is to begin work at the county administration building today. A county department head meeting this morning will be his first piece of business.
For the next two to four weeks, Mr. Davis will split his time between Hanson and the Island during a transition period. According to the contract, his salary will be pro-rated until he begins work on a full-time basis.
The commissioners drafted Mr. Davis's contract in executive session on Aug. 28. At last week's meeting, the commissioners briefly discussed several changes to the contract before unanimously agreeing to it. Mr. Davis was not present at the meeting.
The one item that drew any debate was the number of sick days Mr. Davis will receive. According to the contract, "the county manager shall be granted a reasonable number of sick days per year."
"Am I the only one bothered by 'reasonable number of sick days?" asked Lenny Jason, commissioner form Chilmark.
"Should we define the number of sick days?" asked Roger Wey, commissioner from Oak Bluffs.
Dianne Powers, acting county manager and Dukes County register of deeds, said employees under the county personnel bylaws receive 1.25 sick days a month, totaling 15 days a year.
Robert Sawyer of Tisbury, county commission vice chairman, said the personnel bylaws do not apply to the county manager. "This is an exempt employee, we have discussed this. This is a person who as a chief executive should determine his own circumstances.... If he takes a day off, he takes a day off. If he works seven days a week, he works seven days a week. That is normal and typical in a chief executive position. There should not be a specific number of sick days [in the contract]," he said.
"I don't agree. I think it should be specified whether he takes it or not. 'Reasonable' is arbitrary," said Les Leland, commissioner from West Tisbury.
"I'm not concerned about abuse. What I'm concerned about is leadership. If the man is going to be the chief executive officer he should lead by example, and if 15 days a year is good enough for the employees of this county, it should be good enough for him," said Mr. Jason.
"I have dealt with an awful lot of chief executive contracts in my career. I have never, ever seen a contract for a CEO where you put in such details as the number of sick days," said Mr. Sawyer.
Mr. Jason and Mr. Leland ultimately deferred to Mr. Sawyer, and the commissioners signed the contract without changes.
The commissioners also voted to waive the Island residency requirement for Mr. Davis. According to the county charter, the county manager must be a resident of Dukes County, unless otherwise approved by the county commissioners. Mr. Davis told the commissioners that he will not be able to move to the Island for at least two years, when his daughter graduates from college and his wife retires from teaching.
Mr. Sawyer, who has expressed concern over Mr. Davis's need to commute to the Island, wanted to waive the residency requirement for a specific amount of time. "Wouldn't we be better served to waive the residency requirement for a time certain, recognizing full well that we always have the right to extend it, rather than have it, what I think, was somewhat open-ended?" he asked.
The other commissioners disagreed and voted unanimously to waive the requirement. Mr. Sawyer abstained from the vote.
The Contract
According to Mr. Davis's employment contract, he will be paid $71,750 a year. The amount is subject to cost of living or merit increases after performance reviews by the county commissioners on an annual basis. Those increases can be substantial, as Mr. Davis's predecessor demonstrated.
Carol Borer, former county manager, saw her salary increase more than 52 percent during her five years as county manager. In October 1997, when she became the third county manager in several years to take the helm of county government, the job paid $52,000 per year. When she retired on Jan. 1 her annual salary was $79,206.
In May 2002, the county finance advisory board, with the support of the county commissioners, voted to participate in the state early retirement program. The program is designed to save taxpayers money on the theory that lower paid employees will replace higher paid employees.
Through town assessments, taxpayers directly shouldered $711,944 or 17.8 percent of county expenses for fiscal year 2004, which began July 1.
Assessments for the seven towns that make up the county of Dukes County, which includes Gosnold, are calculated based on property values, and are limited by Prop. 2.5, which only allows annual increases of up to 2.5 percent of the previous county budget.
According to Mr. Davis's contract, in his first two years of employment he will receive three weeks vacation, and after two years he will receive four weeks. The contract also grants him three personal days a year. Like all county employees, Mr. Davis will also receive 12.5 holidays.
The contract requires that "vacation time must be used within the year it is earned or it will be forfeited."
The commissioners added that language following the controversy over Ms. Borer's severance. She retired and received a check for $21,157, as compensation for unused sick and vacation time she accumulated over five years.
Like all county employees, the county will pay 90 percent of Mr. Davis' health insurance costs.
Comparisons
Although Mr. Davis will oversee a county government with an operating budget of more than $4 million and approximately 73 employees, and serve as the administrative manager for the seven county commissioners, his actual responsibilities are more limited.
The Martha's Vineyard Airport, which by statute is under the control of the appointed airport commission, and their professional airport manager represents more than half the county budget. The sheriff's department, registry of deeds, and office of the county treasurer which account for approximatley $800,000 of the county budget are headed by elected county officials.
Dukes County is the only county in Massachusetts that gives its executive employee the title of county manager. In comparison, Norfolk County has a county director, John Dacey, who makes $89,210 a year.
While he is responsible for a $27 million county budget, and performs many similar administrative tasks, Mr. Dacey does not have the same authority within county government that Mr. Davis has.
Mr. Dacey receives four weeks vacation and 15 sick days a year. He said that for many years the county paid 90 percent of its employee's health insurance costs, but recently reduced the amount to 85 percent. He said the county is trying to negotiate the amount to 80 percent by January.
In comparison, Edgartown pays 75 percent of health insurance costs for all of its employees, including the town administrator, Peter Bettencourt, who oversees a $20 million budget and is responsible for many day-to-day functions in the town. After 38 years of employment in the town, Mr. Bettencourt makes $94,000 a year. He said someone entering his position could expect to make approximately $80,000 the first year.
Modeled after the town's personnel bylaws, Mr. Bettencourt's employment contract gives him four weeks of vacation time a year. Employees who have worked for the town for one to five years receive two weeks, while employees who have worked for five to 10 years receive three weeks of vacation time.
Mr. Bettencourt receives one sick day a month, and the number is specified in his contract. He also receives four personal days a year.
Tim Carroll, Chilmark executive secretary, is responsible for a $5.5 million budget. His benefits are nearly identical to Mr. Bettencourt's. Mr. Carroll, a former interim county manager himself, said the duties of a town's executive secretary and the county's manager are similar in many ways.
"But, I don't think the county manager has found its place.... Originally he was supposed to be a full-time facilitator and grant writer and all these things, but that hasn't really happened yet," he said.
Mr. Carroll makes $68,000 and follows the same personnel bylaws for other town employees. The number of sick and vacation days in Chilmark are the same as Edgartown. Chilmark employees also have 75 percent of their health insurance costs paid for by the town.
