City Director Threatens Suit Over Salaries : Pasadena: Chris Holden says he will go to court if necessary to force disclosure of pay adjustments made for the city manager, clerk and attorney.

City Director Chris Holden threatened Tuesday to sue if officials continue to withhold from the public the salaries of the city manager, city attorney and city clerk.

“For one person to say, ‘I want to know’ and not be given the information, that’s where it’s wrong,” Holden said. “In my estimation . . . it seems like it’s censoring information.”

Holden said he will suggest requiring that salary adjustments for the top three employees made in closed session be ratified in public. The board will discuss the issue again Feb. 19.

If the board votes against his motion, Holden said he will ask a court to force disclosure. “What we did in the past is not right,” he said.

Under current practice, salaries are disclosed when new employee contracts are first approved by the board. But subsequent pay increases are not disclosed. Instead, the public is provided only the maximum pay amounts, called the “control rate,” for each job category.

The Times has officially requested the information under the California Public Records Act. The fight over salary disclosure arose after the Board of Directors met in a closed session Jan. 15 and gave City Manager Philip Hawkey a $3,585 pay increase. The raise brings his annual salary to $123,085, according to Hawkey.

Holden objected to the raise because he said Hawkey had not been on the job long enough. Hawkey, the former city manager of Toledo, Ohio, began working for Pasadena on June 18. Holden said controversy surrounding Hawkey’s hiring and contract benefits made him realize that the pay increase should be made public.

Hawkey, who is white, was selected over two black finalists. The action generated protests from the city’s minority community. The controversy continued when the board granted Hawkey liberal job benefits and approved spending $377,500 to help him buy a $615,000 home.

Despite a Jan. 22 memo from Holden outlining his concerns, board members last week refused to publicly announce the raise, which Holden subsequently disclosed. Mayor Jess Hughston and City Director Rick Cole said revealing salaries would violate employee rights to privacy.

Newberry said the city’s disclosure of control rates complies with state law on public meetings under the Brown Act and with provisions of the state Public Records Act.

Cole on Tuesday changed his position and agreed with Holden. But, like other board members, he wanted to discuss the matter further and get reaction from employees whose salaries would be revealed.

City Director William Thomson worried that revealing specific salaries would discourage job seekers from applying for Pasadena posts.

Both the city and county of Los Angeles provide exact salary figures on request.

But Thomson said disclosure of maximum salaries provides sufficient information to the public. “What is the compelling public interest in knowing down to the penny what any employee in this city earns?” he asked.