East Ridge manager salary now $100,000

photo East Ridge City Manager Andrew Hyatt
Arkansas-Ole Miss Live Blog

The East Ridge City Council voted Thursday to raise the salary for City Manager Andrew Hyatt to $100,000, effective immediately.

Hyatt, who was previously manager of the Tennessee cities of Fairview and Etowah, has been the city manager for the Southeast Tennessee municipality of about 21,000 for just over six months.

Hyatt began his term with East Ridge on Oct. 21, 2013, at a salary of $90,000 a year. Hyatt was also offered $4,000 in moving expenses, two weeks of paid vacation, health insurance and use of the city's Volkswagen Passat.

Councilman Marc Gravitt said that Hyatt, who had done an excellent job in the time he's been with the city, deserved the pay raise, calling it "a bargain" compared to what the previous city manager had cost the city.

Prior to the council voting to hire Hyatt, the position of city manager had been empty for about eight months since being vacated by Tim Gobble's resignation on Feb. 7, 2013.

Gobble, who had been initially hired in early May 2011, at a salary of almost $117,000, was making around $125,000 when he resigned.

The vote by the council was 4 to 1 in favor of offering Hyatt the 11 percent raise.

Councilman Larry Sewell, the only one voting in opposition to the salary increase, said that he didn't intend any offense to Hyatt, but that he thought they should address raising his pay when they addressed the budget.

Mayor Brent Lambert agreed that it would have been better to deal with the issue of the pay increase while figuring out the budget, but still voted in favor of the raise.

The council agreed to meet Thursday at 5:30 p.m., to hold their first budget workshop.

Contact staff writer Alex Harris at aharris@timesfree press.com or 423-757-6592.

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