Henderson City Council gives city manager 3.5 percent bonus
The Henderson City Council on Tuesday approved a 3.5 percent performance bonus for City Manager Richard Derrick.
Council members voted 4-0 (Councilwoman Carrie Cox was not in attendance) to approve the bonus after discussing Derrick’s performance.
“I feel like your salary has been very competitive, so instead I’d like to focus on a bonus equal to what our employees have received for their [cost of living adjustment], about 3.5 percent,” Mayor Michelle Romero told Derrick.
The 3.5 percent bonus amounts to $10,850 and does not affect his base salary, city spokesman Justin Emerson said in an email.
Counting Derrick’s base salary of $317,750 (which includes a 2.5 percent raise), a $15,000 retention bonus, and the performance bonus of $10,850, his total compensation as of July 1 will be $343,350, not including benefits.
During the performance evaluation, Derrick highlighted strides made this year, including improvements made to public safety via police hiring, advancing Henderson as a charter school authority, opening a wellness center, and reducing water usage by 1 billion gallons this year. Derrick has served as Henderson city manager since 2018.
“There’s two things that I think you knocked out of the ballpark… Our efforts in education and our efforts in wellness,” Romero said of Derrick’s performance this year. “When we said we want to be our own charter authority, [Derrick] got the right team to make sure we will get a successful first try at becoming a charter school authority and I appreciate that.”
Romero and Councilman Jim Seebock noted many city government employees will be eligible to retire and that Derrick should be prepared to recruit new employees to replace them.
About 12 percent of the city employees are eligible to retire today, Emerson said. That percentage is expected to grow to 25 percent within five years. Henderson employs more than 2,300 full-time employees.
Seebock praised Derrick’s performance this year: “You focus on the big things: public safety, quality education, quality-of-life for our community in your presentation. You hit the mark and it’s fantastic.”
Councilman Dan Shaw said Henderson “is very blessed to have quality leadership, who not only leads for today but has a strategic plan for the future.”
”In order to run a city of this size, we’ve done a great job under [Derrick’s] leadership to strategically plan for the future… We are a premier city because of your efforts and we appreciate that a lot.”
Councilman Dan Stewart noted the city manager’s always positive, confident attitude.
“You do get some hard assignments from us sometimes, and you never change your expression,” he said. “You’re always happy and smiling and confident that we can move forward and get the things done that our residents need.”
Contact Annie Vong at avong@reviewjournal.com.
