Northampton gives $5,000 bonus to administrator

By Ted Shockley

The Northampton Board of Supervisors on Tuesday night passed a resolution that would give its county administrator a bonus of $5,000.

Supervisor John Coker and others on the board spoke to County Administrator Charles Kolakowski’s work for the county during the pandemic as the reason for the bonus.

“I think this is well-deserved,” Coker said. “This had to be an unbelievably hard year to do his job.”

Said Supervisor Betsy Mapp, “I think he handled everything beautifully.”

Kolakowski during the meeting advocated for an updated compensation package for county employees.

Kolakowski’s current annual salary was not mentioned during the meeting by supervisors.

His last published salary was $113,000 in 2019. Northampton’s last long-term county administrator earned more than $121,000 annually when she resigned five years ago.

During a public hearing on the bonus, there was one comment from Dianne Davis, whose town of residence was not given.

Davis advocated giving Janice Williams, deputy county administrator, “a good increase” and said to “look at the low salaries of some of your other employees that were hired, because they had skills and not friends working there.”

“Try looking at the salaries that your clerical workers are making — especially those that have been working here for years,” she said in part.

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