Agency consultant sidesteps salary cap

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A consultant who has been hired to head the District's mental-disability agency for 104 days will be paid as much as $120,000 -- about $33,000 more than a full-fledged agency director is allowed to earn.

In hiring consultant Kathy Sawyer to head the Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities Administration this month, Mayor Anthony A. Williams avoided the required scrutiny of a department head by the D.C. Council and sidestepped the city's restrictions on directors' salaries.

The council last year voted to cap the 12-month salary of an agency director at $173,880 and the six-month salary at $90,000, said Charlotte Brookins-Hudson, general counsel to the City Council. There is no cap on contractors' salaries, however.

"I believe they are [hiring Miss Sawyer] to avoid the annual salary cap," Mrs. Brookins-Hudson said.

Mr. Williams' move doesn't sit well with council member Adrian M. Fenty, who heads the Human Services Committee, which oversees the troubled agency.

"You should not pay any more than the law allows," said Mr. Fenty, Ward 4 Democrat, who is running for mayor. "If there is a justifiable reason, then bring it before the council."

Miss Sawyer, a former commissioner of the Alabama Department of Mental Health and Mental Retardation, was hired to replace Marsha Thompson, whom Mr. Williams fired June 6.

Miss Thompson, who headed the agency for more than a year, received a $105,885 annual salary.

Miss Sawyer's contract pays $125 an hour for 104 days, up to a total of $120,000. She also receives $15,000 in housing expenses and $1,000 in travel and professional expenses.

She will head the agency until the mayor leaves office in January. Mr. Williams, a Democrat, is not seeking re-election this year.