Fort Worth city manager, others get raises. But some say taxpayers can’t afford it.
The Fort Worth City Council gave a small number of city employees a pay boost Tuesday despite opposition from a group that believes City Manager David Cooke should be fired.
Cooke and City Attorney Sarah Fullenwider received a 4% raise, City Secretary Mary Kayser received a 2% raise and City Auditor Patrice Randle received a 6% raise. Those four positions are the only city employees directly appointed by the council. Though the council can increase pay annually, the four positions last received a boost in 2017.
About a dozen speakers denounced the raise specifically for Cooke, who made about $340,700 along with a car allowance.
They said they didn’t see value in Cooke’s leadership especially in a time when many feel uneasy about relationships between the police department and residents. A group ranging from a little more than a dozen to nearly 70 have regularly spoke at city council meetings urging the council to act quickly on police oversight and decrying what they believe is systemic racism in Fort Worth.
While some have been coming to meetings for years, many were spurred by the Oct. 12 shooting of Atatiana Jefferson, a 28-year-old black woman. Rookie police officer Aaron Dean shot Jefferson through a window of her home. He later resigned and faces a murder charge.
Mindia Whittier was critical that Cooke doesn’t receive a written performance evaluation. He and the other council-appointed positions receive verbal reviews by the council. That means the public has little knowledge of or input into how Cooke is evaluated, she said.
“Why is the person who holds the top ranking and highest paid position for our city held to a much lower standard of performance evaluation than the rest of the employees?” Whittier asked.
Whittier played a clip of Cooke testifying in an ongoing lawsuit involving former Police Chief Joel Fitzgerald. In it, Cooke is asked how many police shootings have occurred since Fitzgerald was fired in May. He said he didn’t know.
Many speakers criticized Cooke’s answers as proof he was unaware of what was happening day-to-day in the city.
Possibly the most passionate speaker was Angela Darden, who said taxpayers couldn’t afford Cooke’s salary. At one point she called Cooke an idiot, sparking Councilman Dennis Shingleton to stand up and gesture for her to be removed. City Marshals approached her but she was allowed to finish speaking.
“None of you deserve anything from the taxpayers,” she said.
Cooke is expected to testify Wednesday in a Dallas courtroom in a hearing that will determine if an injunction will continue to prevent the city from hiring a permanent replacement for Fitzgerald.
Cooke’s salary is slightly above many others.
The Dallas city manager makes $433,250 and the city manager in El Paso is paid $402,747, according to a city comparison from September. Arlington, Austin and San Antonio all pay less than $360,000. Charlotte, North Carolina, a similar-sized city to Fort Worth, pays its city manager $343,700, according to the comparison.
Fort Worth city council members make $25,000 while the mayor is paid $29,000.
The median household income in Fort Worth in 2017 was $57,309, according to the U.S. Census.
Councilwoman Ann Zadeh was the only “no” vote on the raises.
She applauded Cooke for bringing data-driven decision-making to how city services are applied. However, she said she wanted to wait to approve a raise for Cooke until it becomes more clear if some of his efforts will provide positive change for the city.
“I do believe that it is concerning to take this step this evening, in light of not seeing the fruit of those steps that we have made in the last 30 days or so,” Zadeh said.
The city is taking steps, some prompted by a Race and Culture Task Force report, to improve police oversight and ease inequity.
Cooke last week announced members of an outside panel tasked with investigating police procedures and forming recommendations to improve how officers interact with the public. The announcement came a little less than a month after Jefferson’s shooting.
Christina Brooks was hired last week as the city’s first diversity and inclusion director. She’ll begin Dec. 9 in a role overseeing a 14-person department meant to ensure city services and hiring practices are applied equitably.
On Wednesday night, the public can meet five candidates for a new police monitor position at a community forum at the Fort Worth Central Library starting at 6 p.m. This person would report to the city manager and review police procedures and citizen complaints, along with helping the city set up an independent community police oversight board.
The employees’ current salaries, before the raises, are:
Cooke: $340,704.00
Fullenwider: $261,144
Randle: $153,940.80
Kayser: $133,681.60
This story was originally published November 20, 2019 at 7:00 AM.
