
DATE: Sunday, November 16, 1997             TAG: 9711160012

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY TERRI WILLIAMS, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: PORTSMOUTH                        LENGTH:  134 lines

NEW JOB COSTS PORTSMOUTH $59,531 MORE

This summer, Portsmouth created an unbudgeted $61,360 position for former City Clerk Sheila P. Pittman. The circumstances and timing of that move have caused a stir in this city, which has grappled for years to bolster its economy.

Pittman received a 10 percent raise when she assumed her new position Aug. 1. Her clerk job had paid $55,680.

The move also set off a chain reaction of promotions. Debra Y. White, who had earned $29,079 as chief deputy city clerk, was appointed clerk July 22 and now makes $45,000 a year.

Debbie K. Herbert, who had earned $34,465 as the city manager's secretary, moved to deputy clerk and now makes $37,930.

Since the city manager will eventually have to replace Herbert's $34,465 position, the change resulted in the city spending about an extra $59,531 - enough to pay at least the starting salaries for two police officers or two teachers.

All this in a year when residents' water and sewer fees had to be increased to help the city cover operating expenses - and several months after the budget was passed without any hint of the new position.

The job also apparently duplicates some of the duties of the city's director of marketing and communications, who is paid $68,893 a year.

Pittman, 48, has worked for the city for more than two decades.

She and City Manager Ronald W. Massie said that the idea for a director of citizen and community outreach was developed in the spring after Pittman decided it was time for her to change careers.

Pittman donated her left kidney to her son, Jim, in March. After the surgery, she said, she began seriously re-examining her life and concluded she needed a change.

She said she legally separated from her husband and decided she wanted to move to the administrative side of city government.

``It was a major time in my life,'' Pittman said. ``When I had my surgery, I began to deal with my marriage and my career. I looked very hard at myself career-wise.''

Massie said he needed someone full time to represent the city at various ribbon-cuttings and events and thought Pittman would be right for that position.

Massie created the job. It was not posted, and Pittman was the only applicant considered, he said. That did not violate any city hiring policies, he said.

Many of the council members were busy with their committees and weren't always available to represent the city, Massie said.

He described the position as crucial at a time when the city was bustling with new business activity and concentrating efforts on economic development.

``We were getting spread very thin,'' Massie said. ``No one was primarily responsible for special events. While it was a second job for most people, it needed to be a first job.''

City Councilman P. Ward Robinett, too, said it was vital that the city create the new job and put Pittman into it.

``In today's environment, we need someone with Sheila's talents to put the community in the forefront,'' Robinett said.

The new job's official duties are described as follows:

``The director of citizen and community outreach will coordinate all major public special events sponsored by the locality. Additionally, serves as the city's official liaison, and serves as an ex-officio member of, the quasi-public agencies that plan other public activities (i.e., PortsEvents, Chamber of Commerce, Olde Towne Business Association).

``The director will develop a citywide special events calendar that will be distributed to every household and work to develop a speaker's bureau and enhanced system for handling citizen complaints. . . .''

Ken Wheeler, the city's director of marketing and communications, concedes that there is some overlap in his job and Pittman's.

Wheeler's job description reads in part: ``work involves coordinating media, public relations, and marketing projects which provide exposure to the city's special projects, new initiatives and routine services.''

But Wheeler said under Massie's strategy to reorganize several city departments, his responsibilities have changed from a marketing role to more of a coordinating one.

At the beginning of the year, the marketing and communications department, museums and convention and visitor's bureau were all consolidated into one department, Wheeler said. He now coordinates all the budgets for the consolidated department.

Virginia Beach, Chesapeake and Norfolk governments do not have a post comparable to Pittman's.

In Norfolk, the assistant city manager, FestEvents and the city's communication's department handle special events and community outreach, said Terry Bishirjian, Norfolk's manager of communications. An assistant city manager's salary range in Norfolk is $76,932 to $122,295. Communications staffers in Norfolk make between $38,856 and $64,856.

In Virginia Beach, several staffers juggle various roles, said Human Resource Director Fagan D. Stackhouse. He said the city's parks department, convention, visitors and development department, and media specialists all handle duties similar to those that Pittman is now doing.

Staffers who handle special events in the parks department have a salary range of $30,000 to $40,000, he said. Media relations professionals at the Beach make between $45,000 and $60,000.

In Chesapeake, the city's parks department and public communications department handles functions similar to those Pittman is doing, said Mark S. Cox, director of public communications. Cox said his salary is $64,471.

Pittman said her job is important because it allows the public to learn firsthand how their tax dollars are being used.

``Your image is everything,'' said Pittman in reference to Portsmouth. ``It's not just about ribbon cuttings and ground breakings; there's a bigger picture.''

She noted that she had organized an event publicizing Operation Sledgehammer, a city project that uses federal and state grant monies to obliterate dilapidated structures and make property available for new development.

Massie praised her efforts in helping to plan a golf event at The Links at City Park in which PGA golf pro Curtis Strange announced that he would lend his name to Bide-A-Wee Golf Course.

Massie also noted her involvement with the Fleet Week activities, a regional observance that celebrates the ties between the community and the military. And he said she was responsible for landing Portsmouth's role in upcoming Grand Illumination events this holiday season. Portsmouth for the first time will participate with Norfolk in holiday events, including a parade and lighting several businesses along Portside.

Portsmouth Mayor James W. Holley III and most of the city council declined numerous requests to discuss the new job.

Council members Bernard D. Griffin and James T. Martin said the new job is crucial for promoting Portsmouth at a time in which the city is turning its image around and striving for economic growth.

``Ms. Pittman has been a valued city staffer, and I'm sure her talents will enhance the city,'' Griffin said.

Martin said he supports Massie's decision.

``The justification for it was there from the start,'' he said. ILLUSTRATION: Color photo

Sheila P. Pittman's new job has caused a series of promotions and

raises.

Photos

James T. Martin

Ronald W. Massie