Mayor Brandon Scott plans to retain his present lineup of high-ranking officials – including the police commissioner, city administrator, fire chief and public works director – through the rest of his second term.

Employment agreements to extend the tenure of seven executives in their current positions to December 2028 are up for ratification at this week’s Board of Estimates meeting.

At the same time, Scott announced the hiring of his high school friend and former campaign treasurer, Calvin A. Young III, as chief of staff, despite Young’s troubled tenure as chair of East Baltimore Development Inc., a pending lawsuit and the tardy filing of a required ethics form.

Currently senior advisor to the mayor, Young’s promotion will increase his salary from $140,000 a year to $250,000, making him one of the highest paid employees alongside several administrators handed long-term employment contracts.

The contracts will guarantee the base pay of officials who have enjoyed rapid salary increases in recent years.

For example, Reginald Moore, hired as Baltimore’s recreation and parks director in 2017 at $158,000 a year, will be paid a minimum of $229,675 a year through 2028, according to paperwork submitted to the BOE.

And Faith P. Leach, recruited as deputy mayor for equity, health and human services in 2021 at $194,000 a year, will earn at least $275,940 a year in her current role as city administrator.

Another recipient of a contract extension is Police Commissioner Richard J. Worley Jr.

He will be guaranteed through 2028 an annual base pay of $311,427, boosted by a minimum 3% yearly increase, plus “a further incentive increase based upon the attainment of objective crime reduction metrics and subjective personal performance factors,” according to the new agreement.

Worley was appointed in 2023 at a $285,000 base salary that extended until September 2026.

For Khalil Zaied, hired last March as public works director, annual base pay will begin at $252,350, up from $245,000 awarded to his predecessor, Jason Mitchell.

In every case, Scott’s office extolled the performance of the officials.

Moore, a Georgia native, was lauded for his work in that state where, the mayor pointed out, he serves on “the Georgia Recreation and Parks Association, Macon-Bibb County General Employees’ Pension Fund Board, Macon-Bibb County Credit Union Association Board, Cherry Blossom Festival Board and Keep Macon-Bibb Beautiful Board.”

Silence about Worker Safety

Zaied was described as “a dedicated public works leader with a track record of success.”

Over the next 3½ years, he will be “charged with fixing the city’s water billing system, implementing the Water Accountability and Equity Act, moving Baltimore towards zero waste, and building cleaner, greener neighborhoods,” according to the mayor.

There was no mention about DPW setting a priority for improving conditions for its solid waste workers, where two employees died in on-the-job incidents last year.

The agency’s poor safety practices and lack of emergency protocols have been the subject of six highly critical reports by Baltimore Inspector General Isabel Mercedes Cumming and a second City Council hearing earlier this month.

At the latest Council hearing, DPW officials were questioned closely about whether the city will be able to comply with new statewide workplace heat standards, which require rest, water and shade for workers at specific temperature trigger points.

The agency said it was negotiating with union representatives and still has not finalized a plan.

Other agency heads given contract extensions are:

• Ebony M. Thompson, city solicitor, who started at $189,000 in 2022, will be paid a minimum of $260,000 through 2028.

• Berke Attila, director of general services, whose previous annual salary was $199,000, will be guaranteed $211,000 a year.

• James W. Wallace, hired at $218,000 as Baltimore fire chief in 2023, will be paid a base salary of $224,540.

As mayoral appointees, Thompson and Zaied sit on the Board of Estimates that is set to approve the employment contracts on Wednesday.

Each contract includes a “termination for just cause” clause, per longstanding city policy.