Rashad Young's $103,000-a-year salary as assistant city manager is raising some eyebrows at City Hall.

        It's not that the figure is out of line. It's well within the $94,274 to $127,270 range specified by city ordinance.

        And it's not that he isn't worth it. City Manager Valerie Lemmie just announced his appointment last week, and he doesn't start until June 10.

        Rather, his salary is generating a buzz because some folks believe that no 25-year-old should ever make a six-figure salary.

        But such salaries are hardly scarce at City Hall. Eighty-one city employees made more than $100,000 last year, many boosted by overtime and one-time retirement payouts.

        They include Police Chief Tom Streicher ($135,075); Fire Chief Robert Wright ($131,363); Health Commissioner Malcolm P. Adcock ($131,729); Solicitor Fay Dupuis ($127,960), her assistants Pete Heile ($115,092) and Robert H. Johnstone Jr. ($114,543); Finance Director William Moller ($112,654); Water Works Director David Rager ($112,587); Assistant Police Chief Ronald Twitty ($111,704); Parks Director Willie F. Carden Jr. ($111,477); and Transportation Director John F. Deatrick ($108,776).

        But plenty of high-ranking employees — some with 30-year careers with the city — make less than Mr. Young, too.

        Personnel Director Rodney Prince made $102,888. Safety Director S. Greg Baker made $102,634. Planning Director Liz Blume made $100,000 even. And languishing in five-digit territory were traffic engineer Steven G. Bailey ($94,817), Community Development Director Peg Moertl ($94,808) and Recreation Commission Director James Garges ($92,350).

        Shake-up: Dayton city officials complained of a “brain drain” this week after Ms. Lemmie, their former city manager, left for Cincinnati and took two top aides with her.

        In addition to Mr. Young, she nabbed special projects director Eileen Enabnit to succeed Mr. Deatrick as transportation director.

        Those departures leave the top five positions at Dayton City Hall in the hands of people with “acting” in their job titles, the Dayton Daily News reported.

        Red tape trick: Councilman Pat DeWine's press conference Monday — in which he covered the front of City Hall with red tape — was a made-for-television public relations stunt meant to demonstrate his opposition to new regulations being pushed by a Democratic majority on City Council.

        But it was hardly original. He took the idea from his sidekick, PR practitioner Betty Hull.

Ms. Hull, the campaign manager for last year's Issue 5 campaign, used it to promote civil service reform. She had former city managers Sylvester Murray and Gerald Newfarmer cutting through red tape she had strung up at the Charter Committee office.

        But the gimmick hasn't outlived its usefulness yet, Mr. DeWine said.

        “I'll stop cutting red tape when City Council stops adding regulations that make it more difficult to do business in the city,” he said.

        Quoteable: Councilman Jim Tarbell's only worry about the city manager's new appointments is that he doesn't want Cincinnati to become “Dayton South.” Not that he has anything against Dayton, mind you. His maternal uncle, R. William Patterson, was mayor of Dayton from 1958 to 1962.

        “You've heard of the Wright-Pattersons? Well, we were the wrong Pattersons,” Mr. Tarbell quipped. “We had all of the brains, but none of the money.”

        City Hall reporter Gregory Korte can be reached at 768-8391 or gkorte@enquirer.com.

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