As if giving double digit raises in an economic crisis to some of her faves wasn't infuriating enough to taxpayers, it was recently revealed that County Administrator Pat Bean took an "award" herself. It was a 1% pay increase really……..isn't that a raise? Of all people, the seemingly insolent and embattled Internal Performance Auditor (IPA) uncovered this (after 300 hours of searching) and was professional enough not to send it to all of the Commissioners before it somehow got leaked to the press.
In her defense, Bean asked County Attorney Renee Lee if it was OK for her to accept the "award" and Lee gave her the green light. Guess who else took the raise award without the Board's knowledge? Lee! The raise award in question was for saving the county money (isn't that Bean's job?) and according to this article it was designed for lower level employees (which is where Bean probably should be).
This article appears in Sep 30 – Oct 7, 2009.