Are we paying our city clerk too much?

This news source is the only source that prints the "official" notices prior to the meetings. It was difficult to decide if we should correct the error or print it as it appeared. It was decided by the committee that since the notices were "official" and city officials are constantly pointing to our unofficial status that we should print the notice as it was received.

In recent notices received by the public Mr. Lang spells rooom or did he mean room? Perhaps one of us should tell him about spell check.

Maybe if he roomed in Ortonville someone in the school could teach him how to spell.

Frankly these errors are occurring regularly and the general consensus? They are overpaid. Perhaps our accountant could discount the depreciation and everything will balance.('')

Both of these men are headed towards the unemployment line.

not only are we paying him too much (which I think we are)...are we still paying him mileage reimbursement to house hunt---which I read in the paper we were! OMG. The whole "tone" or "feel" of the town has changed. Who even knows what this guy looks like? Is he even part of the community? All it seems is that since he has taken the job is he's caused trouble....when a person takes a job, they are supposed to be an asset? Do any of the city employees enjoy working for him? Do you see him volunteering at any community functions? Does he even live here yet? (I dunno the answer to this one--I dunno the answers to any of these but maybe somebody does) What leadership qualities does he have? Why did he leave his previous job? I kind of feel like between him & most of the members of the city council, they are about to pull the drain plug on the city of Ortonville and we'll be left the wolf guarding the hen house.

How much does the city clerk get paid?

It is public information. Can either ask at the city office or ask at the city council mtg tomorrow night. I am not 100% sure. I thought it was over $60,000.

Since it is always best to work with facts here is the milage for City Administrator David Lang. I have removed the images of the milage payments that were posted originally and have replaced them with links to them instead. This cleans up the thread so it is not so oversized and still keeps the information available to the public.

Page 1 , Page 2 , Page 3 , Page 4

It is always best to have correct information if you are going to discuss anything. Since people in the community have been talking about how much the city Administrator makes it is best if the information is accurate. For the most part people don't hear it first on the internet. Usually people are talking about an issue long before and the internet provides a ready place to go to find the facts. Now when people talk about it at least the facts are there for all to see. This matter would be subjective. Some may think it is to much and some may think it is not to much. It would be a personal opinion. As for myself I have no opinion on the matter as I do not begrudge a person trying to make a living. What a person makes is not as important to me as whether or not they do the job.

One thing that shouldn't be personal opinion is what is or is not public information. After receiving the above information I asked Mr. Lang what the cafeteria expense was and he said it had to do with insurance and he paid part of that. When I questioned further about it he became agitated and told me that, that information was not public. My reply was that this is the information he gave me, he replied that he didn't prepare it and he wasn't going to talk about it anymore. Mr. Lang then left the room. We were standing in the entryway to the city office at the time.

If this wasn't public information then why did Mr. Lang give it to me? If this wasn't public information then why didn't Mr. Lang take it back? It is very confusing to work with someone who gives you something and then says you aren't supposed to have it.

does he still get mileage to his house?

In the documents above it lists mileage with an explaination in some cases. In other cases it just says mileage so it would be hard to know what that mileage was without asking. Below is his contract.

This is truly one of the worst written employment contracts I have seen. The people representing the city did a horrible job. The contract is open as to how long Mr. Lang has to move to the city and have an interest in the city.

He received a three year seniority and the worst part of this contract is he has to work an ambiguous 40 hour week, but not at the city office. He can work at home and still be paid. He is a salaried employee but watches the clocks or at least a calendar. Please read this paragraph for yourself. It is a true embarassment for the parties that claimed to be representing the city, Blair Johnson and Dan Oakes. Both oftentimes bragging about their experiences, but they sure blew this one. Read it for yourself.

It only gets worse. If he is terminated because he does a bad job, Mr. Lang gets a six month bonus. I wish I could get paid for doing a bad job.

By the way, this is the guy who couldn't take minutes accurately and in last nights meeting he did not have prepared minutes for the last meeting.

Whoever drafted this document was asleep at the wheel.

I found it interesting that they gave him vacation and sick days to start out with, even though he wasn't an employee that was promoted from within the county. Maybe this is a common practice for people in those types of positions?

Thank you for posting this public information.


nascargirl

You may link to City Clerk/Administrator David Langs payroll here. Payroll Distribution

This would be just his payroll, you would have to add the milage from the above post to get a more accurate picture. Adding up all the milage for 2008 would be around $2,534.45

So the figures come out to


$60,994.98 payroll
6,048.00 cafeteria expense
2,534.45 milage

$69,577.43 is the way these figures add up.

To make this even worse, the only positive thing on the posts about the City Clerk was a claim that he is good at preparing grants.

However, during a recent meeting he said he was not responsible for any grants regarding the police department and the head of the department needs to prepare that grant.

Seems to me he speaks out of both sides of his mouth. If the city was eligible for a police grant the City Clerk should have prepared it unless he supports the elimination of the department.

By the way, the city of Madison also explored county-wide policing and decided that it would cost as much or more than having their own department. At least that is what was in the Western Guard.

So....he'll write grants, which he was hired to do & is good at, but he won't for the Police Dept? Is it me or does he seem to pick & choose what he does? or does he have it out for the Police Dept?

At the Ortonville City Council meeting last night, Monday, June 15, 2006, during the motion to approve expenditures Mr. Mike Dorry again complained about paying the milage for City Clerk David Lang. Most of the discussion revolved around Mr. Lang attending a meeting and listing the mileage from his home instead of from Ortonville. Mr. Lang reminded Councilman Dorry that it was in the contract.

No one seemed to mention the fact that there was something else in the contract. Mr. Lang was supposed to move to the area. The city would pay him $5,000 to move here. Along with $500 just to look for a house. It has now been TWO YEARS and in all that time Mr. Lang could not find a house suitable for himself and his family? Really? I don't think he has been restricted to the city of Ortonville alone. Doesn't he have all of the Big Stone Lake Area to find a place to live? Does anyone else find it peculiar that one man can't find a house to live in after two years? How picky is this man? There are plenty of nice homes for sale around here. What is the problem?

The city puts in the contract to pay his milage from the town he lives in until he gets a local home and does he take advantage of it and now the city of Ortonville has paid this mileage for two years? Some people might think it is time to turn off the faucet! Was it the intention of the city to pay mileage for two years? Did the city council think that Mr. Lang would buy a home within a reasonable amount of time?

At the city council meeting Councilman Berkner stated that perhaps it is time to look things over and some may agree. It is up to the people of this comunity if they want to continually pay mileage for a city clerk who can't find a house to live in after two years.

For all of Mr. Langs lofty exclamations about what a wonderful place this is to live as he heads the EDA and is supposedly promoting the community it sure rings hollow if he isn't willing to live here. Maybe he knows something about the area that we don't?

Where in the contract does it specifically state he is paid for mileage driving to work? I saw work related, but nothing specific.There should be a loop hole somewhere.
It stated there is a cap on house hunting mileage of $500. They should have included a time frame to find a house and if he didn't find one by the end then he should have to pay his own mileage. I think Mr Lang needs to step up and either find a house or pay the mileage himself. Looks like he is taking advantage of the good citizens of Ortonville.

As I read a couple of post, there arises a consistent act of the current city clerk. The federal government has a budget crisis, the state has a budget crisis and every city and county has a budget crisis.

Dave Lang's answer to that is cut police, cut sewer, cut other essential services. Then buy me big toys, pay me more, give the golf course more and continue to pay mileage despite the fact I have not moved in years.

This is what Mayor Blair calls a dedicated public servant.

David Lang refused to move to Dundas also, he lived with a mentally challenged guy for a quite a while before, you poor people were blessed with his inabilities. The best day of Lang's employment was the day he left, with his goofy lamp sticking up in the back seat of his car like a homeless person moving from Detroit to Chicago.

I am offended by this post. It is a personal attack on a person. What a person does while in a position of public trust and service is one thing. But to go beyond and ridicule someone is an act beneath your best character. I can tell you are upset with this individual, and you do not respect him. But please keep it on the up and up -- you are a better person than this post would indicate, I know. I would be pleased and honored to read your best as a person. I would probably be happy to be called your friend if I knew you, I'm sure. I know Lady Hawk personally, and am so honored to call her my friend because of her character and courage. I would like to one day say you are also one of my heroes.
Thanks.

Luckidog wrote:

David Lang refused to move to Dundas also, he lived with a mentally challenged guy for a quite a while before, you poor people were blessed with his inabilities. The best day of Lang's employment was the day he left, with his goofy lamp sticking up in the back seat of his car like a homeless person moving from Detroit to Chicago.

Luckidog, welcome to The Forums. I have merged your post with this thread of the same title. In the future you may hit the blue "Reply" button to respond to a thread. It isn't necessary to start another thread of the same topic and title.

As you look around on these forums you may take note of our style and form of writing. We are very interested in facts and the opinions of those facts are also welcome. While City Clerk/Administrator David Lang has been a topic of discussion on this forum it has been to address "facts" in regards to his duties as City Clerk/Administrator. In your post I do not find anything of fault regarding the working habits of Mr. Lang other than he did not move to Dundas when he worked there. That is of interest as we are finding that same situation here in Ortonville.

However your comments about who he lived with or his choice of furniture are not relivant to his duties as a Clerk Administrator and really have no bearing on him professionally.

If you have information on Mr. Langs performance as a Clerk Administrator in Dundas I and others would be interested to hear them. For instance when was Mr. Lang employed by the City of Dudas and for how long? When did Mr. Lang leave Dudas and under what circumstances did he leave? What issues, if any, did the citizens of Dundas have with Mr. Lang? What were Mr. Lang's accomplishments as City Clerk of Dundas?

Do take note of my other posts. You may notice that statements and facts are backed up with documentation when ever possible. Facts are always more credible when they are corroberated with documentation.

It is also acceptable to give editorial comments on any facts you may have but I would encourage you to remember that wit and verve come in many shades. One of the many purposes of this forum is to engage in debate and so you are not so much speaking to an opponent as you are being allowed to speak to the public. Persuasion is an art.

I look forward to hearing from you again, in a more gentlemanly manner.