New CAO Frank Miele will earn roughly $30,000 more than predecessor Lisa Hass.
Recent email correspondence with Erin Mayor Lou Maieron confirmed this late last week.
An email sent to Maieron noted that Hass appeared in the 2011 Sunshine List with a wage of $107,000 (the list identifies staff earning more than $100,000 per year).
Maieron in his email stated “Off the top of my head Lisa was at about $120,000, all in, Frank is about at $150,000, all in.”
However, Maieron clarified that Meile would be filling in two additional roles that were not previously served in the Town of Erin.
Miele’s position also includes the roles of economic development director and human resources director.
“Miele has the experience and qualifications to do both jobs. In a small municipality of about 11,500 could we afford to hire these two extra positions? Probably not.”
Maieron added that Minto, Wellington North, Mapleton and Centre Wellington all have economic development staff.
“With our new CAO hire for Erin, we will be, I believe, the first municipality in southern Wellington County to have an economic development officer. This works well in the direction the new economic development committee of the county is heading in.”
He added that “Erin has potentially a large amount of one-time growth coming in .”
At the same time, Maieron contended the municipality has the second highest development charges and the highest water rates.
“Given our proximity to the GTA – high property assessments and taxes – all of these somewhat discourage economic development. Frank brings a tremendous amount of experience and knowledge to economic development that can only assist us going forward.”
Maieron also stated that if the town were to hire additional staff to cover the economic development and human resources positions, it could cost the taxpayer considerably more than $30,000.
“If the town were to hire two additional persons to fill those two roles …how much more would that cost the taxpayer …$60,000 per or more? A lot more than the additional $30,000 would be my guess.”
