During a meeting held Oct. 6, the Newton Falls City Council approved a new contract with its city manager that will increase their salary from $60,000 to  $90,000 annually with some added benefits.

The controversial contract was approved 3-2 after a lengthy debate. John Baryak, acting mayor of the city, Gideon Fetterolf and Tesa Spletzer voted in favor while Kevin Rufener and Julie Stimpert opposed the contract.

Along with the $30,000 increase,  it comes with the added benefit of allowing City Manager Pam Priddy, who has been in the position for two years,  to appoint her own personal assistant as well as six weeks of vacation.

The assistant's salary will be negotiated by Priddy.

She will not be awarded over time for her position.

The contract begins Oct. 20 and expires when several projects throughout the city are completed, or by Oct. 19, 2027. The projects to be completed are:

• The Scott Street sewer Project;
• The Community Center Renovation Project;
• The River Grant Project; and
• The 2024 Road Project

In her termination clause, the only way she can be removed from office is if she commits a felony.

Those in support of the contract said it was appropriate given everything Priddy has done for the city in her short tenure as the manager.

Fetterolf noted during the meeting she has worked to correct the mistakes made by the city's previous administration and even brought the city out of a deficit.

"Mrs. Priddy's worked for 6, 8 months for nothing not getting any benefits except what she has to have," Baryak said during the meeting. "So all in all when you put the figures side by side I'd like to give her double what she's getting because there's nobody in the history of this town done more than what she's done and it's capable of doing."

However, those opposed to the contract are concerned she's being paid too much.

"A simple Google search of salary.com, talent.com, indeed or Linkedin... readily found that for an average  salary for a village or city manager without benefits...is between $56,000 and $76,000 annually," said Rufener during the meeting.

He added that someone without experience made somewhere around $48,000.

He also noted that giving her the ability to have her own assistant actually inflates that $90,000 contract to more than $100,000 when the extra salary is factored into the equation.