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ELKINS -- Elkins City Clerk Jessica Sutton was reappointed to another two-year term and given a $4,000 pay raise at this week's Elkins City Council meeting.
The council packet for Thursday's meeting stated, "Jessica Sutton has submitted a letter requesting reappointment to the position of city clerk at an annual salary of $60,000, effective for the two-year term. Also provided is a summary of accomplishments and goals to support the request."
The city's Finance Committee, however, recommended that City Council reappoint Sutton as clerk with a salary of $57,000 annually, a raise of $3,000.
During Thursday's City Council meeting, Fourth Ward Councilwoman Marilynn Cuonzo said, "I read Jessica's letter and reviewed her accomplishments and the things she has done for the city while she's been with us.
"I think that one of the things that the city has to recognize is that in order to keep good administrative officers -- and what would we do without her, honestly? -- we need to take a look at the compensation. And I'm going to make a recommendation that we increase her compensation that was recommended by (the) Finance (Committee) to another thousand dollars."
"Here, here," Fifth Ward Councilman David Parker said. "Absolutely."
Cuonzo then made a motion to amend the resolution, changing the city clerk's annual compensation for the next two years from $57,000 to $58,000.
Three council members voted against approving the amendment: First Ward's Rob Chenoweth, Third Ward's Chris Lowther and Fifth Ward's Linda Vest.
Voting in favor of the amendment were Cuonzo, Parker, Second Ward's Mike Hinchman and Fourth Ward's Nanci Bross-Fregonara.
The amendment was approved by a vote of four to three.
The amended motion -- to appoint Sutton city clerk for the next two years with an annual salary of $58,000 -- was then approved with all council members present voting in favor.
First Ward's Judy Guye and Second Ward's Lisa Severino were not present at the meeting.
Cuonzo said, "I think the City of Elkins is very lucky to have the administrative officers that we have. When we went through the pandemic, I don't know what we would have done without them, to be honest… And thank you for that. We can't give you everything you want, but we can at least say thank you and recognize that you're worth a lot to us."
"Thank you very much, I appreciate that," Sutton said.
Parker said, "Turnover, especially in these municipal jobs, especially with admin officers, is absolutely deadly to the city. The way to avoid turnover is to properly take care of good people. And I think that is exactly what the amendment was addressing. And I support that.
"We have to deal with the reality of how we're going to take care of good people," Parker said. "It's incumbent, it's one of the highest priorities we can have. I think it's a probably higher priority than paving streets all the time."
Sutton was first hired for the city clerk position beginning on July 1, 2016. At that point she was filling the unexpired term of Sutton Stokes, who had served as city clerk since 2012.
Her starting salary in 2016 was $42,000 per year. Sutton was given a pay raise to $48,000 per year in December 2018.
Sutton was given a 12.5% pay raise of $6,000, to $54,000 per year, in December 2020.
She requested an 11.1% raise of $6,000 per year from Council this year, but received a 7.4% increase of $4,000 per year, to $58,000 annually.
Elkins City Treasurer Tracy Judy's current salary is $56,000 per year, while Elkins Police Chief Travis Bennett and Elkins Fire Chief Steve Himes each earns an annual salary of $55,000, according to information provided by the City of Elkins.