Former RI housing chief Josh Saal lands $105-an-hour state consulting gig
Former state Housing Secretary Josh Saal, who resigned under political pressure last month, has been handed a consulting contract from Gov. Dan McKee's administration that will likely keep him under state employment for the next three months.
Saal's last day as housing secretary was last Wednesday, but he will receive $105 per hour "to assist with the operational and leadership transition" to new Housing Secretary Stefan Pryor, Laura Hart, spokeswoman for the Department of Administration said Tuesday.
The consulting contract provides Saal a minimum of 20 hours of work per week, meaning that by April 25 he would make at least $27,000 under the deal.
The contract does not include a maximum of hours he can work, but sources familiar with the Housing Department indicated he was not expected to work full time over the three month period.
If he did and worked 40 hours per week, he would receive more than $54,000 over three months.
"The Governor's Office and the Department of Housing collectively aimed to facilitate the leadership transition and to support continuity in the department's work," Hart said on why Saal is being kept on as a consultant. "Secretary Pryor views it as helpful to draw upon Mr. Saal's input during this transition."
More on Saal:Housing Secretary Josh Saal resigns - what we know
Saal became Rhode Island's first housing secretary last year and was tasked with coordinating housing policy across state agencies while building a Department of Housing from scratch. Some described the role as housing "czar."
But he was criticized by top lawmakers for moving too slowly to put $250 million in budgeted federal funds for housing programs into action and for missing administrative deadlines.
McKee announced Saal's resignation Jan. 11, less than a year after he was hired.
Saal, who made $174,565 last year and $22,014 in January, will also receive $5,614 in unused vacation time, and the state will pay for his health insurance for three months, Hart wrote in an email.
The state can terminate the contract "at any time before its three-month term with 30 days’ notice," she said.
Signing outgoing Cabinet members in high-profile positions to consulting contracts is not unusual in Rhode Island.
Former Health Director Dr. Nicole Alexander-Scott received a three-month consulting contract – worth $46,000 a month – when she stepped down last year after rumblings she and McKee were not seeing eye-to-eye.
This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: Josh Saal, former state housing secretary, working as consultant with McKee
