City Council President Presses To Make Leadership Position Permanent
By Mike Dunn
PHILADELPHIA (CBS)--City Council President Darrell Clarke wants to make permanent a leadership position on council that was created, informally, two years ago.
When Darrell Clarke became Council President in 2012, he and his colleagues added for the first time a new leadership position of 'Deputy Majority Whip.' That post is now held by Councilman-at-large Bill Greenlee.
Clarke now proposes formalizing that position in the city code, with that person earning an extra $2,000 above the base council salary. Non-leadership positions on City Council currently earn about $125,000 a year.
"We want to make sure that if, in fact, the next council determines that there will be a Deputy Majority Whip, that that person is adequately compensated for the additional work that's required for that position."
Clarke says Greenlee has earned the raise.
"We have had a Deputy Majority Whip that has done significant work."
Majority Leader Curtis Jones agrees. "In this role, he has been our glue. And we hope that future Deputy Whips will follow in his stead."
Clarke points out that this change would not take effect until the start of the next council term in 2016, at which point members could eliminate the deputy whip position, or put someone else in the post:
"This particular provision cannot go into effect until the next session. You cannot increase the compensation of members in their term."
Other leadership positions on Council are Majority Leader (Jones), Majority Whip (Blondell Reynolds Brown), Minority Leader (Brian O'Neill) and Minority Whipe (David Oh).
There is no Deputy Minority Whip position.
