The 10 highest paid Greenville SC city workers make 6 figures — 2 over $200K. See who they are

Greenville, SC – May 02, 2024

Downtown Greenville and the greater Greenville County area brought in $6 billion in economic development, thanks to the efforts of the Greenville Area Development Corp. GADC provided

The city of Greenville has some 900 employees and about 700 of them make over $50,000, led by City Manager Shannon Lavrin, who makes $246,750. She is the first woman to hold the job. Lavrin was named city manager last June, after working for the city since 2018 when she was hired as a development planner. She worked her way up to assistant planning and development manager and assistant city manager. When Greenville City Council appointed her she said Greenville has gotten the notoriety and growth it has by being bold. “I want to be bold,” she told Fox Carolina.

Priorities are selling the 10 story City Hall in downtown Greenville and moving city operations to a building along the Reedy River and completing a new development code. In a previous municipal government role she served as assistant to the city manager in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. Lavrin earned a master’s in public administration at Tennessee State University in Nashville, and a Bachelor of Arts in geography from the University of Kentucky at Lexington.

Sixty-one employees make more than $100,000 a year. Here are the others in the top 10 list of highest paid employees.

City Attorney Leigh Paoletti is the second highest paid employee earning $223,870 a year. An assistant solicitor in the 13th Judicial Circuit based in Greenville for 15 years, she has been city attorney since June 2022. She is the first woman city attorney in Greenville. Among the many high-profile cases she prosecuted was the case of Walker Manning “Chip” Hughes, who was convicted of beating his mother to death with a hammer and a man convicted of killing an 11-week old he was babysitting. Paoletti earned a bachelor’s degree from Furman University and a law degree from Mercer University School of Law in Macon, Georgia.

Municipal Judge Matthew Hawley is paid $194,459. He has been on the municipal court bench for 25 year and recently took over a newly developed court for unhoused people. Hawley attended the University of South Carolina and the University of South Carolina School of Law and was admitted to the South Carolina Bar in 1977.

Deputy City Manager Brandon Madden earns $191,110. He has been in the post since 2022 and previously served as Mauldin city administrator. He has also worked in the North Carolina Department of Justice and Richland County, South Carolina. He holds a bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of South Carolina and a master’s degree in public administration from North Carolina Central University.

Athena Miller is the city’s chief human resources officer, earning $189,009. She has worked for the city since 2007 and holds a master’s degree in public administration from the University of Southern California.

Police Chief John Thompson earns $180,190. Known as Howie, Thompson announced last year he was going to retire but Lavrin convinced him to stay while she transitioned into her job as city manager. “He is a trusted advisor who will bring stability to the organization and our public safety leadership team,” she said in a statement . He has worked for the city for more than 25 years and was appointed chief in 2020 after serving as the interim chief for a year following the resignation of Ken Miller, who was investigated by SLED when accusations arose that he had dropped charges against a donor. Miller was never charged.

Chief Financial Officer Patricia Dennis earns $175,000. She was hired by the city last July from Renewable Water Resources , where she worked for 14 years. She earned a bachelor of science degree in accounting from Huntingdon University in Montgomery, Alabama.

Fire Chief Brian Horton earns $173,243. He has been chief since 2022 and has worked for the city Fire Department for 11 years. Clinton Link, the director of engineering services, earns $166,940 as does David Derrick, director of public works.

EDITOR’S NOTE: The State is publishing an occasional series of taxpayer-funded salaries of public officials. South Carolina’s Freedom of Information Act says the salaries of public employees making more than $50,000 are public information. The city of Greenville said the request made on March 19 must come through a FOIA request, which gives the city 30 days to respond. The city supplied the information on Monday. City spokesperson Beth Brotherton said the city has received 746 FOIA requests so far in 2024 from media, citizens, attorneys. “Unless the request is urgent, we fill them in the order received. I can’t speculate on how Charleston or Columbia were able to produce the document that fast.” She said the information requested is a report that must be pulled from Human Resources and reviewed by the city’s Legal Department. “We take the protection of our employees personal information as seriously as we do the Freedom of Information Act. Documents pulled from HR files have to be reviewed to make sure employee data isn’t accidentally compromised,” she said.

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