EASTHAMPTON — Two weeks after being elected mayor, Salem Derby is eliminating the position of mayoral executive assistant — a role currently held by his chief rival during the race for mayor this fall — and replacing it with an administrative assistant tasked with much fewer responsibilities.
“I don’t need a high-level assistant that is getting paid more than the mayor,” Derby said. “At the end of the day what it’s really about is with a transitioning mayor’s office, what are the needs of the city.”
Derby welcomed current mayoral Executive Assistant Lindsi Sekula, who lost to Derby at the municipal election on Nov. 4, to take the new role starting Jan. 1, but Sekula said she is unlikely to accept the revamped position. He said he will post the job listing for the administrative assistant position when the time comes.
Sekula, in an interview at her office on Tuesday, said Derby is trying to create a situation where he doesn’t fire her, but makes it difficult for her to accept the offer.
“He said I am welcome to stay on if I can make that work but he knows I can’t,” Sekula said.
Sekula said she requested a meeting with Derby and human resources after the election to discuss her job description.
At that Nov. 12 meeting, Derby informed her that, effective immediately, her salary would be cut by 40% from approximately $92,000 to $59,000 a year, and her hours would be reduced from 40 to 34 until the end of the year. Effective Jan. 1, the position would be changed to an administrative assistant role, similar to other departments.
Derby said the salary of the new role will be similar that of other department’s administrative assistants at approximately $47,000.
“He didn’t want to go over the job description,” Sekula said about the meeting. “I find it super disappointing that we haven’t even gone over a job description.”
Sekula said after losing the election and now losing her job, she has not really had time to process next steps. She is keeping her ears open to other possibilities but at this point in her career, she is not going to take a step backward.
Derby said the decision to change the role to an administrative assistant is purely logistical. With approval from the City Council, former Mayor Nicole LaChapelle had increased the position’s salary. Within the last year, the salary became larger than the her own at the time. The mayor earns $90,000 a year.
“That was Nicole’s decision because I think she was focusing on other things and she wanted certain administrative tasks to be off her plate, but that is a different style than I have,” Derby said.
“As I evaluate my role here, I have specific needs and those needs are pretty simple, having the office open four days a week, having it fully staffed,” he said.
Derby said the decision is not personal and it is a common process for a new mayor to create their own team.
For Sekula, Derby’s decision is personal. “I do [believe this is personal], because he can keep the executive assistant and reduce the responsibilities but he is not,” she said.
Sekula said had she won the election, she planned to keep the executive assistant position with reduced hours so whoever filled the spot would still have administrative responsibilities. She said Derby could do the same.
During their campaigns, Derby and Sekula both made it clear that they would be scaling back the responsibilities of the role. Sekula said she understands the decision and knew this was a possible outcome, but did not expect him to completely change the job.
“He just needs someone to be in the office, present, answering the phones and he’ll handle everything else,” she said.
Sekula explained executive assistant and chief of staff are interchangeable terms. She acts as the department head of the mayor’s office, providing day-to-day leadership and working with staff and other department heads, with input on administrative actions.
Derby said having been mayor for the past four months, he understands what he needs and “When I have responsibility all over the city, I don’t think I need two of the same salaries coming out of the mayor’s office.”
Sekula said it has been an “interesting” dynamic between her and Derby since the election and wished he would have been more transparent about his intentions with the position when campaigning.
Sekula said “publicly facing he says the things that sound good,” but when you look deeper, they may be problematic.
She said on Oct. 14, Derby had contacted the city solicitor with a draft memo that asked to review the city charter on the status of the mayoral executive assistant and feels Derby was trying to change the position even before the election.
People have advised Sekula that she can find another job as a town administrator or positions in municipal government, but she gave a similar message that she noted during her campaign.
“My interest wasn’t in municipal government as a whole, it was in Easthampton,” she said.
Sekula said the changes to the mayor’s office will likely be discussed at the city council’s Nov. 19 meeting.