Latrobe OKs 2-year contract, $75K salary for new city manager

Latrobe will pay its new city manager $75,000 a year, council members publicly divulged Monday in ratifying John Antinori’s hiring and setting terms of his employment.

Council unanimously approved a two-year contract for Antinori, who was named at council’s Nov. 12 meeting to fill the vacant manager post. City officials refused to say how much Antinori, a cousin of Mayor Rosie Wolford, would be paid until his contract was finalized.

Antinori’s wage will be subject to a yearly review. He started work Monday, succeeding Michael Gray, who resigned last month for personal reasons.

City officials said they hope by January to fill another key post that was held by Gray — public works director.

A Unity resident and 1983 Greater Latrobe graduate, Antinori declined to comment further at Monday’s meeting. He told the Tribune-Review earlier that he was looking to return home after working in New York City for 25 years and that he considered the top Latrobe administrative position an opportunity to serve his community.

His most recent job was director of “total customer experience” at IBM, where he managed a redesign of the corporation’s Cloud web presence.

Wolford said she deferred leadership of Antinori’s job interview with council members to Councilman Ralph Jenko.

She did join council members in voting to hire Antinori — to “just make it unanimous,” she said — and to approve his contract. Under Pennsylvania’s Ethics Act, such votes can be considered a conflict of interest only if they concern the voter’s immediate family — defined as a parent, spouse, child or sibling.

While none of the applicants for the Latrobe manager position had municipal experience, council members said they favored Antinori because of his management experience.

Among the experience Antinori touted was helping create two computer game start-ups and helping to grow R/GA, a digital consulting, technology, design and communications firm, from “a $9 million boutique agency to a $350 million global organization.” He said he also has worked with budgets ranging up to $50 million.

Council reviewed the tentative 2020 budget of $5.9 million, which should be approved in December. The budget does not raise the tax rate of 21.5 mills. Details of the proposed spending plan can be viewed at the municipal office.