City Council Tightens Restrictions On 'Double Dipping'

Westlake City Council is taking a stand on ‘double dipping’ with new legislation that gives council members oversight on hiring in situations where a potential employee has retired from government job.

“These ordinances were not brought because we’ve had a problem in Westlake,” said Council President Michael Killeen. “There is concern overall on these issues and we’re trying to send a message. We made a statement for better or for worse. We’ve hired these types before and I can’t think of a time I would have had an issue with any of them.”

Council members said they are not opposed to hiring a retired employee if he or she is the best fit for the job, but would want to review the hires on a case-by-case basis. Only with both mayoral and council approval can a retired employee work for the city.

“There may be cases where the best-qualified individual is a retired city worker,” Killeen said. “It would have to be discussed on the council floor. If you can make a case and convince council that he’s the one you want to hire, then that’s fine. This is a statement that the city doesn’t promote this, but there are circumstances where it’s the best fit.”

The new legislation also requires that the pay for any potential city hire who has previously retired from a federal, state or local government job be reduced by the amount of any pension they receive from that job.

“If new employees have elected to get a lump pension, the amount of reduction should be the most the actual pension would have been,” said Ward 1 Councilman Edward Hack. “It won’t preclude his hiring.”

The same will be true for elected officials who retire within 180 days of the election in which they plan to run.

“The facts are that if the official wants to retire and the people want to re-elect him, that’s up to them,” Killeen said. “The issue here is that because of filing deadlines, they’ve already won de facto if no one else files.

“If no one is running against the candidate, the voters don’t have a choice,” agreed Ken Brady, Ward 5 councilman.

Union employees would have to be approved by both entities, but face no reduction in wages. Existing employees like Provisional Fire Chief Dale Kraus, who retired from the city of Rocky River in 1997, will not be affected. Kraus took over for former chief Rick Pietrick who was demoted in 2007.

The legislation passed with only Ward 4 Councilman Michael O’Donnell opposing.

“I think it’s a shame that we have to pass legislation like this, but it’s because people have abused it,” Hack said.