City manager Ecker gets increase in salary

Birmingham City Commissioners, on a split vote, have agreed to raise the base salary of city manager Jana Ecker by seven percent.

Commissioners took action on the proposed raise after a nearly two-hour closed executive session, allowed under the Michigan Open Meetings Act, on Monday, September 15.

Ecker became city manger at the start of July in 2023 as Tom Markus was concluding his most recent contract as city manager. At that point Ecker had spent 21 years with the city, first as a city planner, then as planning director and then as assistant city manger. She holds a bachelor degree in urban planning and environmental studies from University of Toronto as well as a bachelor of laws from University of Windsor. Ecker is a licensed attorney in Ontario and a licensed residential builder in the state of Michigan.

City commissioner Clinton Baller attempted at the September 15 meeting to delay the review due to the 11:10 p.m. time when the agenda item was being addressed, citing the late hour and because he said the review was “not urgent.” But commissioner Brad Host said it was “not fair to the employee” to delay the review. Baller was the lone ‘no’ vote on conducting the performance review that evening.

At the conclusion of the review in closed session, no details of the review were shared publicly and city commissioners voted 6-1 to implement the wage increase.

Host was the lone ‘no’ vote on the motion for the pay increase. In 2023 when the commission chose Ecker as the new city manager, Host said he was pleased with having Ecker as city manager but voted ‘no’ on her five-year contract, citing his position then that the starting pay of $175,000 was too high.