For some Farmington department heads, multiple raises
Brenda Wendlandt
Human Resources Director salary nearly tripled after title changes
For over a decade, some Farmington department heads have received raises every few months, their salaries far surpassing the 1- or 2 percent cost-of-living increases approved by the City Council each year.
Questions have been raised about how those raises were approved, the justification for them and how some promotions were handled.
In the 15 years Human Resources Director Brenda Wendlandt has worked for the city of Farmington, her salary has almost tripled and her title twice changed.
Wendlandt did not respond to phone messages and emails seeking comment, but City Administrator Dave McKnight said Wendlandt’s responsibilities increased to include payroll supervisor, chief labor negotiator for Farmington, and data practices compliance officer among other duties.
Wendlandt started as a human resources coordinator earning $38,500 per year in April 1997.
By the end of 2000, Wendlandt had good job performance reviews, according to city pay reports, and received five raises to earn $48,901.
Over the years, six of her 25 raises were approved by then-Finance Director Robin Roland while serving as interim city administrator in 2001 and 2005.
Roland’s first promotion to interim city administrator came after then-City Administrator John Erar’s March 20, 2001, resignation.
According to an internal March 28, 2001, memo, Roland based Wendlandt’s 4 percent raise on a positive performance review and a market analysis conducted as part of the budget process.
Roland, who is currently the finance director in Cottage Grove, also received a $2,538 raise based upon the Stanton multi-city pay equity survey, and with her cost-of-living and pay equity adjustments brought her a 10 percent salary increase in 2001.
In an interview, Roland said the market analysis would have been conducted as part of the budget process, and any promotions Wendlandt received would not have been a decision Roland made on her own, but continuing a process Erar had initiated.
Erar said he did not recall the specifics of the pay study or the raise Wendlandt received as a result.
He said he hired Wendlandt and she “did an excellent job.”
The study was likely conducted, he said, because the city was growing at the time and employees probably had to have additional knowledge and skills.
“Basically, if the city is getting larger, there’s a lot more work,” Erar said.
He added that interim city administrators typically work to keep operations “status quo” until a permanent administrator is hired.
“When you’re authorizing a new position, that typically needs approval within the budget process,” Erar said.
He said the City Council approves salary ranges, and increases that fall within those ranges would not require specific council action to implement.
“I suspect an interim administrator would probably want to keep council well aware of any actions they take if they’re an interim,” he said.
Lakeville City Human Resources Manager Cindi Joosten said city staff promotions there involve multiple steps that include review by a position evaluation committee and a personnel committee before it is brought to the City Council for approval.
Any accompanying raise must go through the same approval process, she said, but added when Lakeville was a smaller city, it did not have the same amount of internal controls.
Wendlandt’s March 2001 raise was authorized retroactive to Jan. 1, 2001.
One week later, on April 2, 2001, Roland authorized Wendlandt’s title to be changed to manager and signed off on another 10.5 percent raise that brought Wendlandt’s salary to $60,000.
Her job title change was not approved or considered by City Council, according to a review of city meeting minutes from that time. Wendlandt has brought other similar employee promotions before the council seeking a resolution for approval, including one in November 2002 for an administrative services director.
Farmington’s city code does not specify if those kinds of promotions require council approval. Currently the League of Minnesota Cities states that Farmington’s governance structure requires job promotions be ratified by the City Council.
In 2001, Wendlandt had earned a 22 percent raise that included a pay equity adjustment of $1,756; Minnesota state law requires public entities to regularly conduct equity studies to promote equal pay.
By September 2002, then-City Administrator Ed Shukle promoted Wendlandt to human resources director without council approval, according to city records.
Citing the 2002 compensation study, Wendlandt’s salary increased to $68,440.
According to Page 13 of the study, Wendlandt’s then $67,521 salary was already between 6.9 percent and 14.7 percent above the other salaries in the comparison.
Those findings were never presented in city meeting packets and then-council members interviewed for this story did not recall those being reviewed by the council.
City Council Member Jason Bartholomay said he recently reviewed the compensation study, and understood it to say in general most city management positions were then paid above-average while lower-skill positions were then paid below-average.
Then-Farmington City Council members interviewed said they do not recall if they were shown the full $26,500 study, or voted to approve the study findings.
The council authorized the study be conducted, according to city council packet material, but did not vote to accept its findings.
“I don’t have a clue who authorized it,” then-Mayor Jerry Ristow said of the way the study conclusions were implemented.
Many city staff received a raise as a result of the study, said former Council Member Lacelle Cordes.
Cordes said the council also didn’t know about title changes, and she got the impression staff just wanted the council to “rubber stamp” everything.
“We questioned them, but we got dogged if we questioned what they were doing,” Cordes said. “It was like ‘How dare you question us? This is how it is.’ ”
A Sept. 16, 2002, memo from Wendlandt to the council said the city’s final recommendation regarding the study will include “salary adjustments and title changes for some city staff,” without identifying the positions or mentioning Wendlandt’s position as manager could become a director and move into a higher salary range.
In January 2003, Wendlandt received another raise based on the compensation study, and a 2-percent cost-of-living increase that brought her salary to $76,882.
She continued to receive three raises in both 2004 and 2005 bringing her salary to $90,884, a 15 percent increase over two years.
In addition to the cost-of-living raises approved by council annually, the reasons for raises she was given throughout her time with the city include merit steps, compensation study adjustments, market adjustments, pay equity adjustments, position change adjustments, performance awards, contract adjustments and step adjustments.
Cited once in Wendlandt’s city pay records was “FDDA (Farmington Department Directors Association) contract Adjustments” that resulted in a 3 percent salary increase.
McKnight said the FDDA was an independent union department heads formed for a brief time, but has since disbanded.
Wendlandt currently earns $106,613 making her one of the highest paid employees at the city.
Other city department heads have also received multiple pay increases over the years.
Former Administrative Services Director Lisa Shadick’s salary was $31,772 when she started as assistant operations manager at the city’s liquor store in September 1996.
By November 2002, when Wendlandt recommended the council approve the appointment of Shadick to administrative services director, her salary had risen 47 percent to $46,873, boosted by pay equity, cost-of-living and market adjustment raises.
The new job included a 31 percent pay increase.
From 2003 to 2009, Shadick received 16 more raises, including three merit increases and a step increase.
She was given increases based on the 2002 compensation study, although the Page 13 chart shows her salary was between 8 percent and 10.5 percent above that of similar positions elsewhere.
Shadick’s salary was $101,795 in 2010 when her position was eliminated due to city budget concerns.
Roland’s salary history indicates she started in November 1996 at a salary of $49,000.
She received cost-of-living increases, pay equity adjustments and two raises based on the 2002 compensation study.
Page 13 of the study also indicates Farmington’s finance director salary was above-average compared to other entities by between 2.4 percent and 7.7 percent.
City salary sheets show Roland received salary increases when she was named interim city
The chart shows annual percentage salary increases received by Human Resources Director Brenda Wendlandt, Administrative Services Director Lisa Shadick and Finance Director Robin Roland from the time of their hire to current. The computations assume a Dec. 31 year-end and a Jan. 1 beginning date prior to any increases.
administrator in 2001 and 2005.
In 2001, her salary went back to $65,453 after an administrator was hired and her normal duties resumed.
In 2005, Roland’s pay increased from $87,056 to $88,314 for the extra work.
Once those duties ended, she was given a 2.9 percent merit increase above her temporary salary that was signed by then-Mayor Kevan Soderberg.
Roland said she received the increase the second time because she had advanced in the city’s compensation system, qualified for merit pay.
She said the city got a good deal when she served as interim for nine months in 2005, because she only received $1,000 more to take on the city’s top job duties than she would have received had she not done the extra work.
Council concerned
Farmington City Council members have expressed concern about the wage increases and promotions that have apparently occurred without council approval.
City Council Member Christy Jo Fogarty said when she started on the city council 10 years ago, she was under the impression that Wendlandt’s position had always been a director.
“I don’t remember ever taking a vote approving that job become a director,” Fogarty said. “I don’t think it happened.
“It certainly wasn’t something that was said in a memo on a council agenda.”
Bartholomay advocated for all information to be presented to the council.
“I think that council should be aware of those types of things,” he said. “Anytime there is an increase in the budget … the council should be aware of the details as to what that is making up that increase. We have to be able to report those things back to our constituents.”
“This does concern me,” Farmington Mayor Todd Larson wrote in an e-mail to Sun Thisweek.
Council Members Julie May and Terry Donnelly were unable to be reached for comment.
Larson added he is proud to be part of the current council.
“We ask questions and David keeps us fully informed on items such as this,” Larson said. “The way Farmington does business has changed with this council and with David, the management team does not and will not run the city.”
Numerous requests were made of Wendlandt to provide information for this story. She had not responded to those requests as of press time.
Information for this story was provided by other city staff members and McKnight.
Laura Adelmann is at laura.adelmann@ecm-inc.com or facebook.com/sunthisweek.
I am aware of other states that annually post the wages of government employees publicly ( IE: my 13 years as a public employee in Iowa) and feel this practice should be considered by this Council.
Doug – Minnesota State Statute requires that the salaries of the three highest paid employees of the City are printed in the official city paper or on the website each year. This law has been complied with by the City of Farmington since it went into effect over 10 years ago.
I understand the statute, my comment is for all employees, not just the three highest.
I don’t understand the purpose of this story? No two sentences seem to flow together to build any sort of implication of guilt or a person who is severely underpaid, so I’m not sure what I’m supposed to think. It’s just a bullet point list – and a reference to a person who has a concern but doesn’t really elaborate as to why. I also don’t see any reference to any of the other current top paid employees nor male department heads and the history of their employment. Or perhaps Farmington only employs women? Strange story.
I hope this writer can make a point next time.
I believe the implication is that the person entrusted to oversee the hiring, firing, and compensation process gave herself raise after creative raise, with a multitude of reasons. She promoted herself to a manager (with the assistance of the interim city administrator) and gave herself the power to make recommendations. It appears that city management is supposed to present recommendations, but nothing can be finalized without formal authorization from the city council. I think the reporter did the taxpayers a great service in informing us of a serious misuse of tax dollars.
Understanding the above piece is not difficult at all, Ms. Behrenbrinker. Laura Adelmann’s just-the-facts-ma’am style of writing is effective, commendable and appreciated. Her articles always provide pertinent information, thereby empowering readers to come to educated conclusions. In other words, she’s an actual reporter—quite a rarity in these days of New Journalism, advocacy journalism, biased news coverage and engineered inferences.
This particular piece of writing is necessarily complicated because it involves a number of questionable events over a long period of time. Clearly, producing it required a lot of research, effort and digging. Graphically representing timelines was a thoughtful way to help readers sort out complexities.
I’ve never gotten the impression that Ms. Adlemann is trying to tell us what we’re “supposed to think.” Rather, she consistently gives us something to think about.
There are so many elements to this story that don’t make sense. Why has this activity been allowed to go on undetected? How was the HR coordinator allowed to orchestrate raises and promotions without the knowledge and consent of the city council? And how many other executive decisions were withheld from the council?
It looks to me like the HR coordinator had all this timed to take place as soon as the 2001 administrator left…with the help of a temporary administrator. And it looks like the same set of moves was played out again in 2005. Did the city’s attorney review and approve of these manueverings?
And if the compensation studies determined that these individuals were already overpaid, why would they be given raises “based on results of the compensation studies?” Perhaps these individuals felt they deserved higher wages and the city council was stubbornly opposed. Isn’t it unethical to sneak them through anyway?
Taking something that doesn’t belong to you is theft. It seems that this HR person who instigated this unethical activity must be held accountable to the taxpayers. After all, she not only received increases in power and salary, but the taxpayers have been unknowingly footing the bill for her accelerated social security and pension benefits for a long time.
I hope the city council takes this matter seriously.
I am sad to say that this story does not surprise me in the least. Farmington has been a ” good ole boys” community forever and a day! I grew up here, I still live here, though at this point in life, not by choice…but due to the housing market and our insanely high taxes, nearly $4,000 a year… With taxes like that on a home valued in the $200,000 range- its a hard sell..We have asked what our tax money goes for and were always under the impression that our ridiculous School district was eating it up with all of their building, and remodeling. I guess our City employees are part to blame for our high taxes and nothing to show for it,other then a few liquor stores,bike paths,ice rink and parks…The city of Farmington really does not have alot to show for their excessive taxes other than greed by our City employees…When the City Council is done investigating this snaffu, maybe they should look into other drains on our City Budget, like why we need two fire departments, both on the West side of the railroad tracks and within a few miles of eachother? Or how about investigating why we need all the City Crews that drive city vehicles around town aimlessly on a daily basis, or the fact that I sat and watched four City employees stand around ONE fire hydrandt to flush it? Too many employees, too high of taxes,not enough real work to keep half of them busy, and not enough common sense to clean house…That’s what The City of Farmington represents in my book.