The City Council will hire Patrick Urich as Peoria City Manager next Tuesday night. Urich recently gave 90 days notice of his resignation as Peoria County Administrator. You can read the proposed contract on the City’s website. Here are the highlights:
- Base Salary: $175,000 for the first year
- Starting Date: April 18, 2011
- Incentive Pay: To be negotiated during first three months of employment
- Car Allowance: $500/month
- Vacation Days: 15
- Sick Days: 10
- Personal Days: 5
- Health Benefits: Same as all other City employees
- Term Life Insurance: Paid for by City, not to exceed three times base salary; premiums not to exceed $800/yr.
- Deferred Compensation (457 Plan): Lesser of 9% of base salary or maximum deferred contribution allowed (currently $16,500)
- Retirement System: Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund (IMRF)
- Fringe Benefits: Laptop; cell phone; dues for local civic organization memberships; dues for membership in two national, one regional, and one state professional association; travel and other expenses to attend one national and one state conference per year; reimbursement of job-affiliated expenses.
- Involuntary termination: Lump sum of 9 months salary if terminated within first two years; 8 months if terminated in year three; 7 months if terminated in year four; 6 months salary if terminated in year five or later. All accrued but unused vacation leave up to 200 hours will be reimbursed. All life, health, dental, and disability insurance continues for 12 months (or until he’s hired somewhere else, whichever comes first) if he’s terminated within the first three years.
How does this compare to previous City Manager Scott Moore’s compensation package? Moore’s base salary was set at $165,000 for the first two years; Urich’s is $175,000 for the first year only. Moore’s contract also capped his salary increase at 8%; no cap exists in Urich’s. The city paid for life insurance equal to Moore’s base salary; will pay for life insurance equal to three times Urich’s base salary. The city contributed 8% of Moore’s base salary toward a deferred compensation (457) plan; Urich is getting 9%. Moore got six months’ salary upon involuntary termination; that would have dropped to four months if Moore had been terminated after serving two years; Urich gets nine months salary if he’s terminated within the first two years. Moore’s contract included no provision for incentive pay, but did include moving expenses since he was coming from out of state.
One last interesting tidbit. This will make the third City Manager who doesn’t go by his first name. Randy Oliver was really Charles R. Oliver. Scott Moore was really L. Scott Moore. And Patrick Urich is really F. Patrick Urich. What is it about City Managers that makes them go by their middle names?
$500 car allowance?
Is this necessary? Does a city manager do an inordinate amount of driving that would call for this? He already has expenses reimbursed and his travel and other expenses reimbursed for conventions.
I know it’s only a drop in the bucket compared to other things but I was just curious.
All I know is we better be back in the black next year. With those kinds of salary and benefit, the guy ought to be able to spin straw into gold!
You think you have the right guy, you negotiate everything. That is supply and demand.
The city saved $50,000 grand on a search firm and at least $10,000 in moving expenses. The city also minimized their probability of the new hire not working out.
You get what you pay for. This deal wasn’t that much more than the last guy’s deal. I thought the city would pay over $200k for this guy.
whatever they supposedly “saved” they gave to Ulrich
Again, the deal wasn’t much more than the last guy. $10,000 more salary I think.
if this is the right guy, it was a bargain. $60,000 savings at the front end and stability in that position. I think a great deal fell in their laps.
I say this having never met Ulrich, just hearing what people say about him.
For once, I think the PJStar said it well:
Urich is talented – and his base salary of $175,000 reflects that – but he is not a miracle worker. The city’s challenges are nothing short of formidable between a hemorrhaging budget, violent crime and aging infrastructure. As such some patience is required here – by the way, he doesn’t start until April – though no one is saying the locals shouldn’t have high expectations of the new administration. They should.
Let’s address that compensation package. It is perhaps human nature to want something for nothing, and Peorians are as guilty of that as anybody, thinking they can get skill, experience, vision, judgment and leadership without paying market rates for it, whether it’s a school district hiring a new superintendent or the city employing a new manager. In Peoria Urich will oversee almost a $170 million budget and more than 700 employees belonging to multiple unions. Compared to those with similar responsibilities in the public or private sector across the country, we’d suggest the compensation is good but not out of line.
You are amazing…
“if this is the right guy, it was a bargain”
“For once, I think the PJStar said it well:Urich is talented ”
“say this having never met Ulrich, just hearing what people say about him.”
just amazing… yes, the County is in great shape.
BTW…”On Thursday July 13, the Peoria County Board will vote to increase the salary of our Administrator, Patrick Urich, to $130,000.00 yearly for five years effective Jan. 1, 2006.” His pay was 98K.
(Thank you Merle)
But 25,000 here, 25,000 there… pretty soon you are talking about real money.
District 150 Observer said:
“Compared to those with similar responsibilities in the public or private sector across the country, we’d suggest the compensation is good but not out of line.”
Who is the “we” in the “we’d”?
In the immortal words of Ross Perot, “This guy is supposed to be our servant”
Sounds to me like the citizens are the serfs and he’s the Lord of the Manor.
The involutary terminaton thing is a real hoot. Get fired in the first two years and you get 9 months lump sum salary payment. And 6 months at a minimum, no matter how long you live off the taxpayers. How many private sector employees get that kind of deal?
“How many private sector employees get that kind of deal?”
A lot. Read any study (Kellogg School of Management, Business Week, Money Magazine, etc.) and the link to severance pay is directly correlated to CEO risk taking (success) and inhibiting a board to make a rash, quick firing decision (you folks do know he loses his severance for just cause, which is the result of progressive discipline, RIGHT?). The City Manager is the CEO. This non-sense about getting rid of either the CM or mayor is just that, nonsense. Since when is it sound to hand the keys to a multi-hundred million dollar organization to a lay person? We wouldn’t do it in manufacturing, we wouldn’t do it in the service sector, but it’s okay in the public sector? Excuse me?
Someone explain that to me.
Chirp all you want about his pay but at the end of the day no one has yet to justify exactly why any CEO of a such a large organization shouldn’t be paid competitive wages.
And, on that note of competitive wages, how many of you have actually done the data mining on the BLS pay differential between like positions in the public and private sector? What you’ll find there is lower to mid level public sector employees are more highly paid (wage, benefits, pensions, etc.) than their private sector counterparts, whereas management and executive level are underpaid.
Compared to the private sector, size of budget, number of staff overseen, complexity,… its a bargain at $175,000 ($181,000) a year.
Question: Who is the “we” in the “we’d”?
Answer: PJStar editorial as I noted in my original post.
Well said another guy and Mahkno. Spot on.
“How many private sector employees get that kind of deal?”
A lot. Read any study (Kellogg School of Management, Business Week, Money Magazine, etc.) and the link to severance pay is directly correlated to CEO risk taking ”
A lot? CEOs? I think they may represent about 1/2% of workers… or maybe only 1/10%.
Remember 5 years ago this “servant” was making 98K running the county.
A lot! Geez louise… look up… look down… look at my thumb…
Gee you’re dumb.
Another guy said:
“What you’ll find there is lower to mid level public sector employees are more highly paid (wage, benefits, pensions, etc.) than their private sector counterparts, whereas management and executive level are underpaid.” I agree.
People fret about exec pay but . . . who an organization has at the top does really make a difference. Seems Ulrich has a big job that require big skills (which he has and apparently the last incumbent in the job did not have) so . . . done deal.
Hormones raging again….
Frustrated, we were told that the last guy had the “big skills,” also. What are those skills?
Isn’t there a certain amount, above which one person just doesn’t have enough time in a day to do any better job than he/she would do at less pay. For some of the more obscene salaries, I just wonder how anyone could be worth so much money. What is deemed competitive pay for CEOs is so only because so many companies overpay their executives.
It’s like selling baseball cards–they are worth so much money only because someone is willing to pay that much money.
Also, bringing the public sector jobs like teaching into the conversation: Why is it that teachers are expected to do their very best and to be dedicated to their jobs, etc., regardless of their pay or benefits? In fact, they shouldn’t even negotiate for better wages because people will think they work just for the money. Are public service jobs of all kinds looked down on because we have named those who hold the jobs as “public servants.” Why can’t administrators, executives, and CEOs be servants, too?
For what high purpose do executives work so hard? Why aren’t they criticized for neogtiating and seeking out the highest salary offers? A thought: Aren’t executives just really good at delegating work–and, thus, the people to whom the work is delegated are the ones who really do the work. I fear that many excutives receive praise and compensation for work that a good many other people do and their work makes the executives look good. Is the compensation justly distributed to those who actually do the work? I don’t know–just asking.
Another thought: teachers are being blamed when student test scores aren’t high enough–makes the teachers, not the students, failures. The public wants teachers to be given merit (or demerit) pay.
Why is it that CEOs of failing companies aren’t paid according to the failures of their companies–and why are they often still in demand as CEOs of other companies.”
We live in a free market society. Competition for the most talented administrators (CEO’s) determines wages. That is what happens here in America.
Do you really believe it is always the most talented that get the jobs? We, also, live in a society in which people get jobs because of whom they know and more often than not those who happen to be in the right place at the right time get the jobs. I am not at all convinced that talent is the overriding factor that determines who gets the plum jobs. Certainly, the jobs often go to those who can sell themselves to the right people.
Charlie, you are talking about a handful of very large corporate CEO’s. The vast majority of corporations don’t do that for anybody. I don’t consider the City Manager of Peoria equivalent to the CEO of General Electric. And Sharon is right, District 150 observer. Truth is, being City Manager of Peoria is not something that requires a lot of rare talent. It’s not like pitching major league baseball, that only a few can do. Truth is, thousands of people in Central Illinois have the brains and talent to do the job, many of them probably better than the guy who just got the plum. They don’t bother applying because they don’t have the political clout to get the job.
If all these “underpaid public managers” are so talented and can get paid so much more in the private sector then why don’t they go to the private sector?
“We live in a free market society. Competition for the most talented administrators (CEO’s) determines wages. That is what happens here in America.”
Yeah yeah… the only guy in the entire area suited for city manager just happened to be the county administrator?? AND he gets a pay raise?
Doncha EVER wonder why these positions are ALWAYS filled by someone transferring from the same position someplace else? Like Royster moving from Detroit to here to St Louis getting fired at every stop along the away… it’s an insiders club because the human resource people are too incompetent to find qualified outsiders.
Mouse.. I agree… but you need to wake up Mahkno and another guy… don’t even try with 150 apologist.
I give Urich three years TOPS, before he’s either drummed out or can’t put up with the bullsh*t any longer. Two years would be the strongest bet.
And yet prego wants to give Les a ninth year after years of mediocracy. Somebodies sleepblogging. Nice site, by the way!
“years of mediocracy.”
2006 NCAA tournament
2007 NIT Tournament
2008 CBI Tournament
2009 CIT Tournament
“Mediocre” may be too strong a word for Jim Les. He hasn’t been that good.
“it’s an insiders club because the human resource people are too incompetent to find qualified outsiders. ”
In the private sector this is called ‘networking’.
Urich’s career is far more transparent than someone comparable in the private sector. When it comes to landing jobs in the private sector the money winning advice is always to network network network. Yes it is an insider deal to some degree. The same holds true in the private sector. Most good jobs go unlisted and are filled by people who have networked. Even when jobs are listed publicly (or internally public) it is oftentimes a formality.
I don’t see a problem here.
Yup, Mahkno, people hire others that they are familiar with and have a track record they are comfortable with. That is human nature and what happened here. I applaud them for it.
City Manager is a very difficult job. $175,000 is a bargain if you get the right guy. It is much easier to criticize others than to do it yourself.
What is the mayors job? Does he have anything to do? It seems to me we do not need both positions and it would save the city money to cut one of these positions. After Urich’s term is up, vote to abolish the City Manager’s position so that the mayor has work to do. I don’t think you can have a city without a mayor, but I might be mistaken. I’m sure it had already been decided that Urich would get the city manager’s position even before he told the county he was leaving. He wouldn’t have just left the county without having something lined up. With what salary and perks are posted, Urich is already making well over 200,000.00. I notice there is no cost posted for the dollar amount of health insurance. That has to be added in too, not just say (same as other City employees). What is the real value? It will be interesting to see how many positions will be cut to accommodate his salary. I think every department head should be let go. In most cases it is the people who work for them that do the job anyway as the managers have no idea how to do their employees work and these employees could report directly to the City Manager. Think how much money that would save.
overpaid? not sure why so many think this guy will be over paid. remember, Urich will have to deal with the mayor and (one or two exceptions considered) everyone in the horseshoe. if anything, the guy will be underpaid and deserves 10x as much. and i agree, he will have enough in two or three years tops.
“$175,000 is a bargain if you get the right guy.”
$1,000,000,000 is a bargain if you get right guy…
5 years ago he was $98,000 !!!!! (you know that his job in the County encompasses The City of Peoria… Peoria is in Peoria County.)
anything else brilliant you want to add in your defense of the establishment status quo?
How about full disclosure on your part 150. What is your paid position with the City?
cttsp5… that was my idea when they went looking for the last guy…
Ardis actually DO something other than raise political contributions???
Ooops, Charlie’s hormones are raging again.
As I have said before, I do not work for any municipality and never have. I don’t know a single city council member, not do I know the mayor. I don’t know any county board member not any Dist 150 board member. I am as unconnected as you get to city and county politics.
The mayor is a part time position. He has a full time job.
The salary debate is a red herring.
What specifically, can we expect from the new Peoria City Manager. What will he do to help reverse Peoria’s decline into a 2nd East St. Louis. Nothing else matters but this concern.
The City Manager implements the policies set by the City Council. Any big changes in direction need to be made by electing better Council members. I expect Urich to do his job, but he needs better bosses.
“I am as unconnected as you get to city and county politics.”
District 150 observer: Are you Betty Crocker?
I don’t think so.
Sharon using your logic I should be paid more then my boss because all he does is tell me what and how to do something, Im the one actually doing the work.
This may be different in teacher land, which I will give you is a totally different place then the real world so I can see where sometimes logic doesnt apply, but the reason my boss is my boss is because he can do the job, has done the job and can probablly do my job better then me. He has field experience that I dont have from years of work so he is paid more because of it and hence has become an overseer for those of us that dont have his experience. See in many jobs you actually have to prove that your good at a job to keep it or get a promotion and once you prove your really good at it, and you can also manage people, you usually enter into some sort of admin position. My boss wont pay me to get a masters so I can turn around and get my raise, if I want to continue my education I have to pay for that not the taxpayers. Oh yeah we dont have tenure either so thats probablly hard for you to wrap your mind around. No spring break, christmas break, winter break, every federal holiday break, summer break…get the picture. When you go to college for a degree in education do they drill the underpaid servent thing in or does that come later? Sharon I would really encourage you to crawl out from under the public sector rock you live under and get a job “in the real world.” It would really open your eyes to see that teachers if anything have a pretty good deal right now.
I know that there are people on here with some sort of pay complex but usually the CEO’s for major corps have experience managing large sums of money and man power. Im sure though that all they do all day for their outlandish pay is sip wine on their yachts while smoking cigars and talking haughtily about the little people.
“I don’t know
nor do I know
I don’t know, nor
I am as unconnected as you get”
My favorite post by 150 EVER!!!!
“He has a full time job.”
Don’t forget to wipe off your lipstick.
“the reason my boss is my boss is because he can do the job, has done the job and can probably do my job better then me”
OMG… what business are you in?
Outsider now, I did work in the private sector, granted quite some time ago. Also, teachers, like everyone else, go out into the public to see how work is being done. We conduct our personal business on the phone, etc., with people who work in the private sector. (We encounter incompetence in the “real” world). Teachers aren’t totally ignorant of what goes on in the “real” world. Many teachers have spouses and friends who work in the “real” world, so they gather information about working conditions while still living “under a rock.” In fact, many teachers in private education and in smaller school districts couldn’t raise a family on their wages–they often rely on the wages and benefits of their spouses so that they are able to live in the “real” world and pay for the goods and services from “real” world companies.
I certainly wasn’t advocating that you get paid as much as your boss–just that all those under him/her be given wages and benefits in keeping with the degree to which they help him get his assigned work done.
Again, I can’t criticize or comment on how much you earn, etc., because I don’t have the information about your salary and working conditions that you seem to have about a teacher’s situation. There is a good chance, of course, that if I had that information I would agree that you are not being paid enough and that I might wish for you better working conditions.
Charlie, get those hormones under control!
District 150 observor, what do you accomplish by trying to bait Charlie? I really don’t get it. Why not just express your opinions. No one changes his/her opinions of you or your opinions because of what Charlie says–you are the one who establishes your own blogging reputation. Three different blogs are now questioning whether or not you really are connected or unconnected to city government and District 150. You are certainly their defenders. And that’s OK–I just am always curious as to why an “unconnected” “outsider” upholds their point of view so often.
Sharon, I do not “bait” Charlie. The only time I ever address anything toward him is after he insults me. I only respond to his insults. I refuse to be a pin cushion for anybody. I am surprised his numerous personal insults toward me and others don’t offend you. Why aren’t you asking him why he insists on making these personal attacks?
It would make me very happy if CJ would step in and stop Charlie’s very personal attacks. Since he appears unlikely to do so, I will defend myself.
My opinions about District 150 and the city are my opinions. A citizen is allowed to occassionally agree with public servants without being one of them or being a “bootlicker”. Sharon, you are usually very civil, I would hate to think that your acceptance of Charlie’s behavior is only because he agrees with you more than I do?
As for the establishment, I think the city as well as Dist 150 has done a pretty poor job of running the organizations. That doesn’t mean everything they do is evil or wrong.
I don’t work for either, but what would be wrong if I did? Sharon, would you not allow a city or District 150 official to post his thoughts here?
Let me add, Sharon, that after Charlie has used the words “bootlicker”, “idiot” and “lipstick”, I am amazed that you think I am the one “baiting” anyone.
I really don’t care one bit if you or anyone else believes or don’t believe who my employer happens to be, civil discussion is something I strongly believe in. That is democracy at its best.
If CJ tells me that the fact I disagreee with a few posters here is unacceptable, I will gladly move on. That said, I will defend myself.
150–I didn’t say your comments were unacceptable–just unnecessary. In school settings, the one who starts a verbal attack and the one who responds to continue the argument, etc., are both considered guilty. I’m still being a teacher–sorry!
Did I write boot? I left off the “y”.
I respond to you the way I do because you are though in your responses, idea-less in your suggestions and a 100% ESTABLISHMENT SUPPORTER ALL THE WAY
You obvious have a vested interest in keeping things the way they are-broke- and have no interest in a change of the power structure. So, either you are your spouse have a big financial stake in the status quo. That is perfectly clear to everyone.
So why not set the record straight? I am willing to risk my job for speaking truth to power. I lost nearly $4000 of work last semester because I dared speak the truth. I will lose at least that much this year because of it.
District 150 Observor, I understand your bewilderment. At the very beginning when I first started reading and writing on this blog, Charlie used to disagree with me all the time about all kinds of issues. I began to really “listen” to what he was saying and then undersood the basis for his arguments. I don’t always agree with him, but I do understand and appreciate his frame of reference. Often I do agree with him. What really made the difference is that I met Charlie. I often wish Charlie wouldn’t resort to name-calling–not because I don’t like him but because I do. (Sorry for talking behind your back, Charlie, 🙂 )
I know Charlie’s frame of reference, where he works, etc., but I don’t know you or your frame of reference. Most of the time, I’m just bewildered by your unrelenting support of all things city of Peoria and District 150 (and even wonder why you chose the handle “District 150 Observor). I am, also, just a 150 observor, but not always its apologist. Of course, I am a strong supporter of District 150 in that I don’t want it to go any farther in the downhill direction to which it seems to be going at an alarming rate of speed.
Thanks for responding Sharon. I do not support “all things City of Peoria and District 150”. I have REPEATEDLY said, based upon what I know, I would not have voted for the Marriott Project. I have not supported the museum. What I have said is the everybody who supports the museum or District 150 or the Marriott project is not evil and doesn’t have bad intentions. Good people with very good intentions can disagree with you or with me, for that matter.
Supporting the compensation package for our new city manager doesn’t make me evil or a “bootlicker”. You being against the comp package for a new city manager doesn’t make you evil. It is just an opinion.
I just don’t understand why we can’t have these discussions in a civil manner.
I chose my handle because Dist 150 is what was being talked about when I “signed up” with this blog site. I do not, nor do I have any relatives employed by Dist 150. I have had some family members who have been in education in the past and have friends at District 150. I have children and have a healthy interest in education. Shrugs.
Good for you Charlie. Go ahead and speak the truth about what you believe in. No need to insult people here who may disagree with you. Seems simple enough to me.