A revised employment contract, negotiated in a swift move to retain her as town administrator, offers Patrice Garvin an increase of roughly $8,500 to her base pay.
Select Board members who approved the revised contract Wednesday evening said the amended compensation package “reflects market realities.”
“Belmont is poised for growth and a brighter future, progress that would come to a screeching halt if we had to hire and train a new town administrator this spring,” Select Board Chair Elizabeth Dionne said Wednesday evening. “In my role as Select Board chair, retaining Ms. Garvin may be the single most important service I render to the town.”
The vote came a week after Garvin informed the board she was one of three finalists in Danvers’ search for a new town manager, a fact made public by the North Shore community Tuesday night.
“Her current compensation package is not competitive,” Dionne said before the board’s vote. “We have looked at all-in compensation comparisons for other town managers and administrators, and Ms. Garvin is near the bottom of the list, despite having significant experience. The Select Board knew this when we conducted her annual review last fall.”
Terms of the amended contract, in effect until Jan. 15, 2030, include a base pay of $229,500 and a 2% general pay increase (or what is given to the department heads, whichever is greater) over the ensuing five years. Additionally, the contract offers an annual $5,000 retention bonus to be paid out on July 1 each year.
Before the amendment, Garvin earned a base pay of $220,964, about $7,364 below the average base pay for town administrator or managers in over a dozen nearby communities, according to a spreadsheet of comparisons created by the town. Communities used for comparison included Burlington, Lexington, Reading, Watertown, and Winchester.
Garvin’s revised base pay brings her to $1,170 above the average base pay. Topping the list of 15 comparison communities was Wellesley Executive Director Meghan Jop at $246,000; at the bottom, meanwhile, was Winchester Town Manager Beth Rudolph, with a base pay of $208,000.
According to Select Board member Roy Epstein, the new terms were worked out during an executive session Monday night. All agreed that the new contract terms bring Garvin closer to the “middle of the pack” with her peers.
Dionne emphasized that if Garvin took a job elsewhere, the updated compensation package would be the minimum Belmont would have to pay on the open market to hire a new town administrator.
“All of us recognize why she felt compelled to do what she had to do and I’m very grateful to everyone involved – including Matt and Roy – that we were able to reach a mutual solution very quickly,” Dionne said.
Garvin thanked the board.
“Whenever anyone looks for other employment, there’s a process,” Garvin said. “And it’s hard to think about all that we’ve done, really, since I’ve been here – building the amazing team we’ve built – and then knowing there was another opportunity I went to investigate. … That has always been the focal point of my mind: all the work we’ve done and all the work there is still to do.”