EASTHAMPTON — Assistant to the Mayor Evan LeBeau has resumed his part-time role as clerk of the Licensing Board, a post he had resigned, after the City Council raised the position’s pay.
LeBeau resigned from the licensing clerk role after the council discussed its compensation at its June 24 meeting, when the fiscal 2027 budget was approved. Mayor Salem Derby had requested a $1,500 stipend for the duties, but the council voted to include only $1,200. A council motion to increase the stipend at that meeting to the originally requested $1,500 failed in a 4-4 vote.
Councilors in favor of the full amount were James “JP” Kwiecinski, Thomas Peake, Jonathan Schmidt and Nathan Markee. Councilors against were Koni Denham, Felicia Jadczak, Tamara Smith and Amanda Newton. Councilor Kiam Jamrog-McQuaid was absent.
Though the council decreased the compensation, LeBeau previously told the Gazette that he resigned because he felt “singled out” at the meeting, particularly by Council President Denham.
LeBeau stepped into the role as clerk of the Licensing Board after being hired as Derby’s assistant in January, and had not been paid fore the licensing work before the stipend was approved. LeBeau served as Derby’s campaign manager during Derby’s successful mayoral bid last year.
The clerk oversees administrative tasks and records for the Licensing Board, which meets approximately 12 times a year. Of the nine meetings the Licensing Board has held so far this year, minutes are uploaded for only one of the meetings.
Stephen Desaulniers, chair of the Licensing Board, criticized the council at the council’s July 15 meeting for the way LeBeau was treated.
“It doesn’t give me any pleasure to be here. I’m honored and grateful for the opportunity but I’m really not happy,” Desaulniers said, starting his roughly 20-minute comment.
Desaulniers said that the clerk takes on most of the work of the board and the original $1,200 stipend approved by the council was “ridiculously small” for the scope of the work. Besides being unhappy that the council cut the proposed stipend by $300, Desaulniers said that councilors should not have brought up LeBeau’s performance at the June meeting.
“I’m speaking to the entire council now when I say those who made those comments are just as culpable as those who did not jump up in defense of a city employee,” he said. “It should never have come into the conversation and had nothing to do with how that job should be compensated.”
Smith acknowledged the frustration, but said that considering the amount of work that comes with the job, she believes the compensation should be part of LeBeau’s salary and not paid as a stipend. She added that the council does not have the authority to increase someone’s salary.
“I do feel very concerned about the amount of work that is being put into a stipend, that is any stipend, simply because there’s such a likelihood that that person is going to be taken advantage for their hours,” Smith said at a meeting in July.
A month after that, councilors approved transferring another $1,200 from reserve funds to the licensing clerk stipend at a special meeting on Aug. 12, bringing the full amount to $2,400 for fiscal 2027. The additional request was submitted by Derby.
At the Aug. 12 meeting, Peake read a statement from Derby. Denham was not present at the meeting.
“The licensing work is real, it has grown and it deserves fair compensation,” the statement reads, going on to say that writing these funds into a job description would require union bargaining and potentially additional costs.
Councilors who spoke agreed, saying the licensing clerk’s compensation should be increased. They also said the way it fits into the budget needs to be reconsidered moving forward.
Schmidt supported the increase, but said clerical stipends are typically wrapped into the budget of the department the employee works for. In this case, however, the licensing clerk stipend was presented as a separate line item.
The licensing duties used to be part of the job of executive assistant to the mayor, a position previously held by Lindsi Sekula. When Derby converted the role from a $92,000-a-year position to an hourly assistant position paying about $45,000 a year, the clerical duties were removed from the job description.
Derby added the stipend into the budget this year because LeBeau was not being paid for the clerical work until it was approved.
“It continues to be my opinion that this belongs in the mayor’s office budget and it is my desire and intention to next year, revisit this,” Schmidt said, adding that it “wasn’t a good look” for the council to treat the stipend as a separate line item.
Jamrog-McQuaid supported the stipend increase, but also said that a separate conversation should be had about how the council can only cut budget items and not increase them.
“We can only cut, and I personally feel like that was the wrong tool to use in this situation to exercise our oversight over this position,” Jamrog-McQuaid said.
Smith said she is grateful the stipend was increased. Smith, a sociologist who studies gender patterns, said that in future discussions it is important to fairly compensate clerical work, because such roles have historically been held by women.
Kwiecinski and Markee both apologized to LeBeau. Kwiecinski said that whenever they discuss a position they hope for it to not reflect on the person.
“I have given much reflection to the matter myself and I frankly am sorry that we’ve spent this much time over what was originally a $300 cut,” Kwiecinski said. “I think that’s insulting to anyone who works for this city and I would like to extend my apologies to that individual.”
