“The town employees are on line at the food bank. That’s your responsibility. You can change that,” Library Director Kristin Baumann told the New Shoreham Town Council on November 3. The council met in a work session to discuss the process used by the town to prepare the annual budget, and it became a meeting described by Council Member Mark Emmanuelle as “short on attendance, but long on good information.”
Council Member Keith Stover had brought up the disparity in pay amongst town employees, pointing out that with the recent hiring of the town manager and police chief, a financial gulf was widening between new town employees and long-term town employees.“We’ve learned what the market is for capable, experienced public officials,” Stover said. “Is there a plan to sufficiently value other leadership positions and reflect that in their compensation?” Stover went on to question if the town was paying dispatchers enough, given what the town pays the chief, and asked if the town was paying the clerks enough. “If we spend money on new people, and not on people that have been committed here a long time, then we have a friction point.”“There is a division,” Baumann said.
