The highest paid city employee is a position Jackson can't keep. See which one

With an annual pay of $164,000, Jackson's public works director wins the title of the city's highest paid position.

The apparent problem is that nobody wants the job.

The last director to hold the position longer than a year was Bob Miller, who was appointed in 2017 and stepped down in 2020. Since then, the city has had five directors in three years, including Charles Williams, Marlin King, Jordan Hillman and Robert Lee.

Most recently, Khalid Woods was announced to head the department at a city council meeting in July, but then resigned after less than two weeks on the job. No reason has been given from the city to explain Woods' sudden departure.

The director of the public works department oversees the city's public works staff, which has been facing shortages. The staff maintains the city's infrastructure, such as streets, bridges, traffic lights and stormwater management. They are also in charge of running the fats, oils and grease program that educates businessowners on the importance of keeping those substances out of the city's sewers.

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Past directors have been in charge of the city's water and sewer systems, but with the on-going crises in both of the areas they have been turned over to federally appointed interim third-party administrator Ted Henifin.

Ward 5 Councilman Vernon Hartley said whomever the city finds for the position will have to be committed to facing a lot of unique challenges. The public works director is appointed by the mayor but has to be confirmed by the Jackson City Council.

"There's a lot of challenges to the City of Jackson. Somebody will have to come in and be able to manage and a lot of folks will weigh the cost before they make that final decision to commit. We have road issues, potholes, drainage areas and waste issues, so there's a lot of moving pieces," Hartley said. "It's going to take the right person to make that happen and that person is going to have to be committed to looking for innovative ways to fix these challenges."

Ward 6 Councilman and Council President Aaron Banks agreed.

"The City of Jackson has very complex issues and it's going to take someone with a very experienced skillset," Banks said.

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Banks confirmed that the public works director's salary was increased to the $164,000 it is now in hopes of attracting more candidates. That is nearly $40,000 more than what Robert Lee was making, just above $126,000, when he worked as public works director.

How does that salary compare to other similar cities? It's a little bit lower than a director would get paid in Birmingham, Alabama, who's current director, Joshua Yates, receives an annual salary of nearly $169,000, according to the Birmingham Times.

New Orleans is also in the hunt for a new director, with the position paying "up to $170,000 annually," according to the city's website. Directors in Shreveport and Montgomery are paid less, with the former receiving almost $153,000 per year, according to reporting from KTBS, and the latter receiving $140,000 per year, according to the most recent records from GovSalaries.com.

Ward 3 Councilman Kenneth Stokes recently called for a pay increase for all city employees, and firefighters in the Jackson Fire Department showed up in full force to the Jackson City Council meeting on Aug. 1 and demanded a "significant" raise.

"Everything any organization does — and government related entities are no different — how much they are able to accomplish, how much they're able to produce depends upon the talent that they have on staff," said Brett Andrews, the dean of Belhaven University's business school. "If an organization pays too little or allows its level of pay to get too far away from cost-of-living increases, then employees are tempted to go work for somebody else."

Andrews continued by saying every employer needs to have a plan in place to not only attract, but also retain their workers.

"There needs to be a strategy in place to try and keep good talent, and pay is certainly part of the attractiveness of any position," Andrews said. "It's not the only thing that attracts and keeps good people, but it's certainly an important factor in employee relationships because everybody's got to pay the bills."

Below is a list of the other highest paid city employees, according to city documents obtained by the Clarion Ledger in a Freedom of Information request.

Mayor

Chokwe Antar Lumumba earns $119,999 for his position as Jackson's mayor. He was first elected in 2017 in a landslide victory, winning the election with 93% of the vote. He cruised to his second term as mayor in 2021 with better than 69% of the vote.

The mayor can be seen as the city's chief executive officer.

In comparison with cities such as New Orleans and Baton Rouge, Lumumba makes far less. New Orleans' mayor Latoya Cantrell makes almost $180,000 annually, while Baton Rouge mayor Sharon Weston Broome is close to $159,000 annually, according to the most recent public records.

Lumumba does make more than Montgomery, Alabama, Mayor Steven Reed, who's salary is just over $105,000. Shreveport, Louisiana's former mayor Adrian Perkins makes $96,000. Tom Arceneaux, who was elected as the new mayor of Shreveport last year, doesn't have his salary publicly posted yet.

City Attorney

Catoria Martin, Jackson's city attorney, makes $116,574 annually. Martin, a native of Jackson, started her law career after graduating from the University of Mississippi School of Law in May 2011. She started working as Jackson's attorney in 2021 and is the chief legal advisor for the mayor, city council, department directors and the city's employees. Before, she worked for a year as a special assistant attorney general for the Mississippi Attorney General's office.

Martin makes less than Shreveport's city attorney, Ron Lattier, and New Orleans' city attorney, Donesia Turner, who both make $170,000 a year.

Montgomery's city attorney is Stacy Bellinger who pulled in a slightly lower salary than Martin. Bellinger makes $112,000 annual, according to records from 2021.

Police Chief

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Jackson's retired chief of police James Davis was the fourth highest-paid city employee pulling in $115,252 per year. Davis served as Jackson's chief for approximately five years and served in various other roles in the police department for three decades. He announced his retirement in May.

Joseph Wade, the interim police chief, makes the same amount. Wade served as assistant police chief and was called up to take over as chief when Davis announced his retirement. The search for a new police chief is ongoing and Wade will continue as interim until a permanent replacement is found.

Shreveport, Baton Rouge, Birmingham and New Orleans all have police chiefs that make more than Wade and Davis. Those cities have a lower crime rate than Jackson. In 2021, Jackson had the highest per capita murder rate in the nation and even higher than Chicago, the city with the most overall slayings. With a population of 2.7 million, Chicago recorded 29.6 homicides per 100,000 population. Jackson, with a population slightly above 150,000, had 100 per 100,000 population.

Baton Rouge's police chief, Murphy Paul, pulled in nearly $45,000 more than Wade and Davis in 2022, almost $160,000, according to openpayrolls.com. Shreveport's Wayne Smith makes nearly $200,000 and is the highest paid employee in the city. Birmingham's chief, Scott Thurmond, makes close to $180,000, according to The Birmingham Times. Only New Orleans' chief of police, Michelle Woodfork, makes around the same as Wade and Davis, but slightly more at $117,000 per year.

Montgomery's former police chief, Ramona Harris, made $107,000. Records for Montgomery's new police chief, Darryl Harris, were not available at press deadline.

Chief Administrative Officer

The city's Chief Administrative Officer, Louis Wright, earns $113,767 annually. Lumumba appointed Wright to the position in 2021. Wright, a Jackson native, previously worked as a customer service manager for Entergy, as well as working as a trustee for the Jackson Housing Authority and the Hinds County Economic Development Authority.

According to GovSalaries.com, Wright is paid far less than New Orleans' CAO, Gilbert Montano, who's most recent salary in 2021 was just over $198,000.

But Wright is paid more than the $70,000 per year Birmingham CAO, Sylvia Bowen, according to the Birmingham Times. He also makes a few dollars more than Montgomery's CAO, Jamyla Philyaw, who's 2021 salary was $113,556, according to GovSalaries.com.

Chief Financial Officer

The chief financial officer oversees the city's finances. Fidelis Malembeka earns $105,000 annually and has held the position in Jackson since 2021. He previously served as the chief operating officer at Piney Woods Schools.

Born in Tanzania, but grew up in Zambia, Malembeka attended Jackson State University as a business major and co-captained the school's golf team.

Malembeka makes $50,000 less than Shreveport's CFO, Kasey Brown, who makes $157,000 annually, according to reporting by KTBS. Betty Beville, Montgomery's CFO, and Norman White, New Orleans' CFO, are paid even more, with Beville earning $178,600 and White earning $181,000, respectively, according to 2021 records from GovSalaries.com. Birmingham's CFO, Kevin Moore, also rakes in more than Malembeka with an annual salary of $177,600, according to the Birmingham Times.

You can contact Charlie Drape at cdrape@gannett.com or on X, formerly known as Twitter, @CharlesDrape.

This article originally appeared on Mississippi Clarion Ledger: Here is a list of Jackson's top paid city employees