Burnett to make over $21,000 per year more than Trout as administrator of Mason City; hiring process questioned

MASON CITY – Mason City’s new City Administrator will get a sizable raise above his predecessor – even as some question the hiring process that led to his selection for the job.

Aaron Burnett, from Keokuk, Iowa, will likely be formally approved for his new job as City Administrator this week at a 5:30 PM Thursday special council meeting at the library. He will be paid a salary of $170,000 per year. The city’s Finance Department says Burnett “will be in IPERS and no car allowance.”

Burnett’s salary is a sizable raise from the salary his predecessor, Brent Trout earned. Hired in Topeka, Kansas (salary $195,000) last August, Mr. Trout left Mason City and a salary of $148,532 (plus a car allowance) – over $21,000 per year less than Burnett’s salary.

Burnett is scheduled to start his new job in Mason City on June 29, 2018.  He will get up to $14,000 from the City for moving and relocation expenses.  Sources familiar with Burnett’s pay history say he was paid over $70,000 per year in Humboldt as administrator there, then left for Keokuk and a $110,000 annual salary.   Last fall, Keokuk announced a $30,000 raise for Burnett to be spread out over 3 years.

Meanwhile, some observing the hiring process for City Administrator in Mason City have begun to ask questions as to how the decision to hire Burnett was arrived at.

In February, Mason City publicly announced that a search firm had helped secure 5 finalists for the job of City Administrator.  Later, however, after their names had been made public, all 5 candidates were unceremoniously dismissed as Mayor Bill Schickel said the city would not pursue them.  No reasons were given for their dismissal from consideration for the job.  All 5 attended a public community reception in Mason City in February.

A source who has been a City Administrator tells NIT that the candidacy of the previous 5 applicants “was made very public in stark contrast to Burnett’s … one of the magic legal terms is ‘disparate treatment’ …  the openness of their candidacy vs the sequesteredness (sic) of  Burnett is a big deal.”

City hall kept Burnett’s name a secret through the process of bringing him on board.  He had interviewed just one time – on April 4 – for the job and his name was not released prior to that interview nor on April 6, when the council voted to let Schickel and city staff negotiate with him.  It was not until April 9 that the public learned that Schickel and the city council were ready to hire Burnett and the terms of his deal were already complete.

Other questions have been raised about the process by which Schickel and the council ultimately chose Burnett.  The previous 5 “finalists” for the City Administrator job were all white males; their ages were not released, but our source says none were younger than age 50. NIT has learned that Burnett is just 38.  This might matter because, Councilmen John Lee and Will Symonds made remarks to the Globe Gazette about Burnett’s “youthfulness”.

According to the Globe Gazette, “His youth and enthusiasm is really big,” Lee beamed about Burnett.  The Globe also wrote, “Second Ward Councilman Will Symonds seconded Lee’s stance on Burnett’s youthfulness.”

According to code 216 of the Iowa Civil Rights Code, which outlines unfair or discriminatory hiring practices, age is a protected class.  It is discriminatory to consider age when hiring a person for a job.

NIT questioned the city council and Mayor Schickel on the process by which they selected Burnett for the City Administrator job.  They were asked, “In this hiring process, did age play any role in the selection of Mr. Burnett over other candidates?  Was Mr. Burnett considered a stronger candidate due to his so-called “youthfulness”?

Ward 2 Councilman Will Symonds responded with an answer, saying, “I could see if someone were to skim what I wrote, they might think I was talking about his age … I do not know what the candidate’s age is. I can take some guesses to a range of how old he is, but I am not certain what it actually is.”

NIT also asked the mayor and council, “Did the council / mayor consider in their search any candidates that were:

Women
Minorities
Older than age 55
May have a disability
Not a white man.”

The question has so far not been answered by any of the elected Mason City officials.

Councilman John Lee already has what some consider to be a questionable track record when dealing with city employees – namely Al Dyer, the now-former city fire chief.  Dyer and Lee became embroiled in controversy late last year when a secret memo on Dyer’s work status addressed only to the City Council and the Mayor was deliberately leaked to KIMT by councilman John Lee – despite warnings that it could place the city into legal harm’s way. Dyer had been put on administrative leave for possible behavior that was never publicly disclosed.  After the secret memo was leaked by John Lee, the city chose to negotiate with Dyer to get his resignation.  This allowed Dyer to continue to collect paychecks and benefits into 2018 in return for his promise not to sue the City.