The Fabricator
Bill Phillips names deputy deputy mayor
Mayoral chief of staff Bill Phillips has started something.
Mayor Bill Purcell recently elevated Phillips to the lofty and never-before-employed-in-Nashville title of “deputy mayor,” a move that jacked Phillips’ salary to a whopping $128,000, $53,000 more than Purcell earns as the city’s chief executive.
Phillips’ title and salary inflation apparently has touched off a cascade of title and pay reorganization in the mayor’s office.
A mere three days after the mayor announced Phillips’ promotion, the deputy mayor advanced mayoral policy aide Gwen Hopkins to the job of deputy deputy mayor, giving her a salary of $175,000.
Apparently overcome with the workload of her new position, Hopkins turned around two days later and appointed the mayor’s legislative liaison, Jane Alvis, to deputy deputy deputy mayor, which sent her salary soaring to $225,000.
This was quickly followed by Alvis’ appointment of aide Kelvin Jones as deputy deputy deputy deputy mayor, with a salary of $275,000. Jones in turn appointed fellow aide Patrick Willard as deputy deputy deputy deputy deputy mayor. Willard now brings home $325,000 a year.
Reached while house hunting in Belle Meade at the wheel of his new 2001 Lexus (the GS 430 luxury sedan), Willard lamented his increased responsibilities and didn’t rule out the possible appointment of a deputy deputy deputy deputy deputy deputy mayor—with an accompanying salary of $375,000 per year—to help ease his workload.
“[Mayoral aide] Mark Hill has told me he would be willing to take on the job,” Willard said, adding, in an apparent aside to his real estate agent, “How many square feet does that colonial on Deer Park Lane have?”
Purcell, meanwhile, defended the reorganization of his office. “This will help all my aides be more happy on the job, and I think a happy mayor’s office is a help to all Nashvillians,” he said. “In fact, I may apply to become one of my deputies and move to Belle Meade myself.”
“[Mayoral aide] Mark Hill has told me he would be willing to take on the job,” Willard said, adding, in an apparent aside to his real estate agent, “How many square feet does that colonial on Deer Park Lane have?”
Purcell, meanwhile, defended the reorganization of his office. “This will help all my aides be more happy on the job, and I think a happy mayor’s office is a help to all Nashvillians,” he said. “In fact, I may apply to become one of my deputies and move to Belle Meade myself.”
