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Ryno says no one last time to pay deal for engineer
Daryl Jordan
As the Director of Engineering Services/City Engineer, Daryl Jordan will be overseeing a smaller department but one that accounts for $25 million of the city budget. - photo by JEFF BENZIGER/Courier file photo

City Councilwoman Linda Ryno continued her protest of the city's salary agreement with newly hired Director of Engineering Services/City Engineer Daryl Jordan during Monday's meeting.

Ryno echoed her previous concerns about Jordan's salary starting at step D "when we have two long-time employees who are department heads who are still at step B." She also didn't like Jordan being able to raise in six months from step D to E "while we have employees who've had their steps frozen for four years and they're going to have to wait one year to go to the next step."

City Manager Toby Wells reminded Ryno that the contract was in the council agenda package as an information item since the council approved the contract on Oct. 27.
However, the item included a missed section about use of a city vehicle in lieu of a car allowance.

The item was approved 2-1 with Mayor Chris Vierra and Councilman Ken Lane voting yes. Councilman Mike Kline and Vice Mayor Bret Durossette were absent.

Jordan starts out at $10,300 per month and can move up with a favorable review in six months.

Jordan receives a $50,000 life insurance policy, $1,218 per month towards health insurance, and a severance package that starts at three months and can build up to six months depending on longevity. He also receives 12 sick days a year, 15 management leave days per year, and vacation that accrues at a rate of 10 days per year and 15 days after three years' of service. That vacation rate kicks up to 20 days a year after 11 years of service. Payout of unused vacation is limited to 480 hours. The contract also calls for $900 per year for training and professional growth.

The flap over the salary occurred as Jordan was being introduced on Oct. 27 with Kline and Ryno balking at aspects of the contract.

Wells said the agreement and recruitment were based on existing terms and changing them at the last minute would not be fair to Jordan. When the employment agreement came to a vote, Kline and Ryno were on the short end of a 3-2 approval.

A total of 16 persons applied for the city engineer job. Those 16 were narrowed down to eight with the top three interviewed.

Jordan, 47, has a "good balance" between public and private engineering, Wells said. Beginning in 2009, he worked three years as Merced's city engineer. Jordan currently has his own private firm, Jordan Pacific Engineering. He worked as a contract engineer for the city of Atwater reviewing its development plans. He was also co-owner of Sierra del Pacifico Engineering in Atwater. He was the regional manager for CEI Engineering in Fresno, a project manager for Quad Knopf in Visalia and a project manager for Thompson Hysell Engineers in Modesto.

He earned his bachelor's degree in civil engineering at California State University Fresno. Jordan also has a bachelor's degree in biomechanics/exercise physiology, also from Fresno State.