City manager gets three-year contract

City Manager Kathy Angerer

By Charles Sercombe
Hamtramck’s new city manager now has a contract.
At last week’s city council meeting, Kathy Angerer was awarded a three-year employment contract with a yearly salary of $115,000, plus various benefits and a healthcare package.
The salary is the same as what the previous city manager received.
The contract was approved by a majority of councilmembers and Mayor Karen Majewski. Angerer was officially hired a few weeks ago, but without a contract.
But there were two dissenters in both instances.
Councilmembers Andrea Karpinski and Ian Perrotta continued their opposition against hiring Angerer, who for the last year has been serving as acting city manager.
Prior to filling in as acting city manager she served in various other roles in the administration.
Karpinski’s latest opposition was about paying Angerer the same amount as the previous city manager.
“I feel like there is a lack of qualifications,” Karpinski said.
She added that Angerer has less experience as a city manager than former City Manager Katrina Powell.
Powell had experience as a city manager in two Florida cities prior to coming to Hamtramck. Both of those jobs lasted a total of about four years. Prior to that she held other positions in city administrations, and was a 20-year veteran in the Army.
Angerer, who is 60 years old, has for the past several years served in a number of administrative roles in Hamtramck, including economic development director. Prior to that, she was a state legislator, Communications Director for the Dundee Community Schools, and Executive Director of Government Affairs at AT&T Michigan.
Councilmember Saad Almasmari disagreed with Karpinski, saying that considering the job responsibilities and Angerer’s past experience her salary is “even less than what she deserves.”
Councilmember Perrotta questioned several aspects of the contract, pointing out that they were slightly more generous than what the previous city manager received.
Councilmember Anam Miah criticized Perrotta’s analysis of the contract.
“The contract is fine,” he said. “Are we going to dissect this contract?”
Perrotta stressed that there was nothing “personal” about his objections over hiring Angerer.
Instead, he said, it is about “the way it was done.”
Perrotta and Karpinski have insisted the city should conduct a search, which Angerer could have also applied as a candidate for the job. They said the city owed that to the community after voters agreed to relax the city charter requirements for the position.

Sept. 21, 2018