Last week’s Finance Committee meeting was set to include discussion and a vote on a salary for the city clerk, but Chair Leonard Gentile stopped that in its tracks, citing a salary higher than the range agreed upon.

This resulted in a brief delay, but on Monday, the committee held a special meeting and resolved the issue.

Councilors Marc Laredo, David Kalis and Joshua Krintzman put forth a docket item to set the starting salary of the city clerk from $146,479 to $150,906, effective Jan. 1, 2026.

But Gentile said he had requested, and was assured, that the salary stay within a certain range. The Jan. 1 increase would lift it around $4,500

Gentile said that he had requested the salary be within the range noted in the job details when they had the position open.

When City Clerk Carol Moore left, she was making less than $139,000, Gentile noted.

“The thing that I question, and in following up with the law department, is I don’t see how a council that is currently in place can bind a future council with a salary increase for one individual, which is what this docket item is proposing,” he said. “So, until I hear back from the Law Department, for the first time ever as chair, I am ruling that this item is not properly before us. So, until I hear from the Law Department because it is not in front of us.”

With that, Gentile adjourned the meeting.

On Monday, the committee met again after the Law Department confirmed it was legally allowed, and the committee approved the city clerk salary 7 to 1, with Gentile opposed.