Tonganoxie City Administrator Nathan McCommon’s contract has been renewed with about a 14 percent pay increase.

The Tonganoxie City Council approved McCommon’s annual salary at its regular meeting Monday. His pay will increase $10,000 to $83,500 with the raise.

Tonganoixe Mayor Jason Ward said Tuesday that Monday marked McCommon’s one-year evaluation. The council looked at area cities to compare pay in determining McCommon’s raise.

“As part of market assessments of surrounding communities of our size and based on the job Nathan’s done for our community, the council decided to give him a $10,000 increase in salary,” Ward said. “He’s done a great job. I think the community has been very pleased. He’s done such an amazing job working with our citizens and businesses. We are very pleased.”

McCommon, who originally is from Meriden, came to Tonganoxie a year ago from Kansas City, Mo., where he was a senior analyst in the city manager’s office. He previously served in municipal roles in Sedgwick County and Topeka, as well as in Kissimmee, Fla.

The council reviewed information showing salaries of other city administrators in northeast Kansas in cities with comparable populations to Tonganoxie. McCommon’s new salary puts him in the middle of the pack of those administrators. Cities used for comparison were Lansing, Eudora, De Soto, Spring Hill and Gardner.

McCommon also receives a stipend of $400 monthly for gasoline, as well as a city cellphone. Each city employee at a managerial level is issued a cellphone, McCommon said.

In other business, the council:

• Heard an update from McCommon about safety improvements at Stone Creek Drive/South Park and U.S. Highway 24-40. At a special meeting last month, the council asked city staff to pursue a traffic signal at Stone Creek Drive and South Park with no restrictive access at Laming Road. The motion also included intent to apply for emergency access funds in amendment to the corridor plan through the Kansas Department of Transportation. The motion also directed the mayor to write a letter to the corridor committee to request a meeting asking for consideration of an amendment to the plan.

McCommon said the corridor committee hoped to have a decision Friday about whether to ask KDOT to consider changing its corridor plan and install a traffic signal at Stone Creek Drive/South Park and U.S. 24-40.

• Met in executive session for more than an hour. The council met for 15 minutes to discuss trade secrets of a third party with McCommon, assistant city administrator Jennifer Jones-Lacy and City Attorney Mike Kelly. The council met for another 15 minutes to discuss pending litigation with McCommon, Jones-Lacy and Kelly. A third executive session covered non-elected personnel. A fourth executive session was for non-elected personnel and included Kelly. A final session, called for 2 minutes, included McCommon and Kelly.

• Approved payments of $6,658.55 to Commercial Aquatic Services for swimming pool chemicals, $8,603 to Fortis for police firearms, $22,791.75 to Honey Creek Disposal, $3,260 to Kincaid Ready Mix for concrete, $30,022.00 to Midwest Public Risk for employee benefits, $5,720.00 to Mize Houser and Company for part of the 2012 Financial Audit and $9,537.45 to Westar Energy for utility bills.