It looks like Bob Philbin will make back some of his lost city salary after all.
Mayor Linda Thompson today appointed Philbin to be the city’s new chief operating officer/business administrator, tasked with running the city government on a day-to-day basis. In addition, Philbin said he would focus on continuing to implement the city’s financial recovery plan, crafting a budget for 2014 and helping with the transition to a new administration.
Philbin is taking a seven-month leave of absence from his job as communications director for Capital Area Transit to accept the job, which will pay an equivalent of $110,000 annually. He replaces Ricardo Mendez-Saldivia, who left after about a year.
In case you may have forgotten, the fate of Philbin has been a source of drama during much of Thompson’s mayoralty. Thompson quickly lost two spokespeople before Philbin took the city communications director job. City Council, facing a budget deficit, then de-funded the $75,500-a-year position for 2012, leading Philbin to work for free. A state judge even ordered the council to re-fund the position, but she later reversed her own decision, and Philbin, once more, was without pay.
Council re-funded the spokesman position this year, only to have Philbin leave to take the job at CAT in February. Philbin said he expects to return to CAT once Thompson’s term is up in January.
