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Majority votes in favor of Hellyer's $20,000 raise

Date: 7/2/2012

July 2, 2012

By Chris Maza

chrism@thereminder.com

EAST LONGMEADOW — Building Commissioner Daniel Hellyer was awarded a new five-year contract by the Board of Selectmen that includes a $20,000 raise.

The contract was signed on June 26 after the board voted 2-1 in favor of the labor agreement in executive session. Selectmen James Driscoll and Paul Federici voted in favor of the contract, while Board of Selectmen Chair Jack Villamaino voted in opposition of it.

Hellyer, who was making approximately $55,000 in his previous contract, will see a pay increase of $10,000 on July 1, then another on July 1, 2013.

Driscoll, who was on the board that hired Hellyer, said the raise reflects long overdue compensation increase.

"When we brought him in, we did so with the understanding that his salary was far below average, but once he got his accreditations, it would be bumped up," Driscoll said. "This new contract is just following upon that original agreement. He is the second-highest certified building inspector in the Commonwealth and even with this raise, he is far below what some less-qualified building commissioners make."

Driscoll pointed to Yarmouth, a town that he said had an opening for a building commissioner with an advertised salary of $90,000, as well as Longmeadow and Wilbraham as communities that pay more than East Longmeadow.

"This is one of those positions that is vital in East Longmeadow," Driscoll said. "While he didn't say anything about it, if we don't take care of employees like Dan, we could find ourselves in a situation where we are looking for a new building commissioner and ultimately spend more money than we would have with this raise."

Villamaino said the state of the economy, not Hellyer's performance, was his reason for voting against the measure and added he felt the town should not offer employees raises simply because other communities offer more in salary.

"I don't think in this fiscal climate that we can be handing out raises in this amount. This is not an indication of the job that Dan has done for us. He has done a great job," Villamaino said. "I also voted against the raise for [Town Administrator] Nick [Breault], [Information Technology Director Ryan] Quimby's raise and the raise for our Town Accountant [Thomas Caliento] as well because I don't think just because another town is paying 'x,' that we should be paying 'x.'"

The Board of Selectmen also signed the contract for newly appointed Recreation Department Director Colin Drury.

Drury, who had been a part-time recreation assistant in charge of the summer programs at Pine Knoll, said he has had a major role in running the department since the departure of former Recreation Director Carolyn Porter, whose contract was not renewed.

Drury, who was chosen from six candidates interviewed on June 12, has a master's degree from Springfield College and will make $55,000, approximately $4,500 less than Porter did.

The Board of Selectmen also welcomed officer Michael Sousa to the police force as he was sworn in. Sousa, an Army reservist, was hired in October 2010, but was deployed to Afghanistan and officer James Gagnon was hired as his provisional replacement.

Sousa has served three tours overseas with the Army, including one in Afghanistan, one in Iraq.



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