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HomeMy WebLinkAbout042502 MINUTES Citizens’ Commission on Council Salaries Tel 360-478-5926 Fax 360-478-2333 239 4th Street Bremerton, WA 98337 MINUTES 4/25/02 PUBLIC HEARING PRESENT: Jan Hillman, David Grindstaff, Alan Strange, Mariwyn Tinsley, HR Staff- Charlotte Belmore, City Attorney Roger Lubovich ABSENT: Joanne Morris Approval of Minutes: M/S/C/U (Tinsley/Grindstaff) Open for Public Input: Helen Miller: “I know for a fact that Carol Arends, the Council President, works an average of forty-five hours a week and that the Mayor is trying to load her down with more and more liaison jobs and other things. Other City Councils get between eight and nine hundred a month for a city this size, as I mentioned in my e-mail to the paper, which they chose not to put in, with part time work not full time. And, we have had recent hires by the City for large sums of money, who do very little compared with the City Council and they’re representing us, and you also. So it’s distressing to me what I read in the Council packet, I think it was last evening, about what they are likely to get a twenty-five dollar a month increase. I think it’s insulting and a slap in the face compared with the type of work that they’re doing and the representation they give us. I hope that you will at least look at what other outfits are getting. Regardless of what you think of the City Council, if you think of them at all, this is the best Council we’ve had in at least the last eight years and I’ve been coming down here every week. And, they pretty much all carry a heavy load, but Arends, Short, Nygren, Younger, Wayne Olsen, and I think Shephard and almost all of them carry many committees, which you may not be aware of. Carol Arends the year before last had fifteen committees. Last year she had probably twelve, and she is at most of the meetings that I am, so I know the hours that she is putting in. I’ve been to five meetings this week already. Mrs. Arends and I are the only two regular suspects that show up for these meetings to keep an eye on the conference center, to see that they’re not trying to take the money away from the City of Bremerton. They do work extremely hard and I think that if there is money in the budget for green chairs when their color is blue, I think there should be money for the Council. I don’t believe these chairs were authorized by the Council and I don’t think the benches  Page 2 April 25, 2002 were surplused as they should have been by the City Council. So, I think that they owe them at least in my limited opinion. Thank you very much for your time. I’m sure you’ve been working hard on it, but I’m not sure you’ve been given a whole lot of facts and you may not of known where to look yourselves.” See attached Letter to the Editor written by Helen Miller dated Monday, April 22, 2002. Closed for Public Comment with the option of reopening if any other members of the public were to come in: M/S/C/U (Strange/Tinsley) Discussion on Council Salaries: The Commission asked Roger Lubovich for a comment about the deletion of the sentence that referred to Council benefits from the draft ordinance. Roger Lubovich: Stated that the reason was because the whole section deals with benefits and salary and the first time he reviewed it he noticed it and wondered how it got there. The Council cannot ratify its salary and only the Council can amend the City Code. He is not very comfortable with seeing the language of their salaries in the City Code. He had subsequently found out that the Council did not put it there. It had been passed by the Citizen’s Commission on Council Salaries and filed with the City Clerk’s office and the Clerk’s office put it in the City Code. He suggested that all the language related to the Council Salaries be deleted from the City Code and that the City Code should state, “the salaries of the Council will be established by the Commission as filed with the City Clerk pursuant to the City Charter, so that the public knows where to find the salaries.” Benefits are a whole other issue. There has been some confusion about benefits and some legislation that was before the state legislature to try and clarify it, but it didn’t get passed. Another reason for removing it is that PERS Retirement is a benefit, but it’s an authorized benefit by the State, which the Council members can have. The sentence in the ordinance states that they do not get any benefits. PERS is a benefit they are entitled to by State legislature. That sentence just added more confusion and it would be best to remove it. It would be best to leave the PERS as authorized by the State and the salary as being authorized by the Salary Commission. It was my action to remove it because it added confusion. The Commission discussed whether a $25.00 increase this year would adequately compensate the Council members for their duties. Jan Hillman: Explained that at the last Commission meeting she had used her calculator to determine whether the increase in the proposed ordinance would be enough to cover what they anticipate any minimum wage adjustment might be and that it would at least accommodate the immediate issue. Alan Strange: Stated there was still the issue of whether a $25.00 increase is adequate for their duties and that he believed that the draft ordinance was just a proposal to  Page 3 April 25, 2002 stimulate public input. He also mention the spreadsheet that had been given to the Commission by the City Treasurer’s office, which showed that even raising their salaries by one hundred dollars per month would only relate to four ten thousands of the general budget. Jan Hillman: Stated that she would prefer that the Commission did not make any drastic increases that could possibly affect somebody else’s budget. Alan Strange: Agreed, but stated that the Commission has two issues to deal with, the current year and next year. David Grindstaff: Stated that with all the information the Commission has collected you can see a lot of disparity throughout the State and that there didn’t seem to be any parity in the per capita. The information they received on the Council President seemed to involve quite a bit of time and effort and that based on the duties they only receive a small stipend above the regular salary. He asked if he was correct and that the amount in the draft ordinance was still open for discussion. Jan Hillman and Mariwyn Tinsley: Both stated that it was. Mariwyn Tinsley: Stated that if they were looking at the increase for the 2003 budget it would allow time for fixed costs to be determined during the budget process and that the 2002 budget has already been set. Alan Strange: Stated that the Commission has been assured that a $25.00 increase wouldn’t hurt this year’s budget. Roger Lubovich: Stated that when he drafted the ordinance it was just to get a schedule on the table for the hearings and he just put in the minimum requirement to deal with the PERS issue and that it wasn’t a recommendation on his part. Alan Strange: Stated that he was under the impression that the Commission could go up to $650 for the current year and it would only affect the budget by two ten thousands of a percent. Mariwyn Tinsley: Stated that she was in favor of minimally impacting the budget for the 2002 year, but for 2003 she felt the Commission had more options. Jan Hillman: Stated that she agreed with Alan and that they should increase Council salaries by $50 per month for 2002 and that for 2003 she felt they should increase salaries by an additional $100 per month. David Grindstaff: Stated that he agreed as long as it was appropriate for the budget.  Page 4 April 25, 2002 The Commission discussed the Council President’s stipend of $25.00 per month and whether or not it should be increased. Jan Hillman: Stated she didn’t feel they had enough information to warrant increasing the Council President’s stipend and she felt they should wait until they meet again next year. Alan Strange: Stated that according to the ordinance the Council President serves in the capacity of Mayor in the Mayor’s absence. He stated that he thought that was quite a responsibility. Jan Hillman: Stated that she didn’t feel you could adequately reimburse someone for a potential responsibility. Mariwyn Tinsley: Asked what the Council President’s role is in formulating the agenda. Roger Lubovich: Explained that all the Council members are busy doing a lot of things, but the Council President does preside over the agenda she reviews them before they go out and is in charge of the agenda and the scheduling. Alan Strange: Stated that based on the data they had received Council Presidents in other jurisdictions did receive a higher amount then the Council members. The last time this Commission convened was in 1998 and nothing has happened with their salaries in four years. If the Commission had met between 1998 and 2002 their salaries would most likely have increased in that time. Jan Hillman: Stated that the salary information they had received showed that other jurisdictions seem to receive giant increases at an irregular and slow pace. What the Commission is proposing is a twenty five percent increase and she felt that was rather substantial and would put them in line with the other jurisdictions that were evaluated. Mariwyn Tinsley: Requested that the proposal be restated. Jan Hillman: The proposal is for the fiscal year of 2002 to increase Council salaries by $50.00 per month per Council person to $650.00, and for fiscal year 2003 to increase salaries by an additional $100.00 to $750.00 per Council person per month. In addition the Council President would still receive the $25.00 per month as the Council President for 2002 and for 2003. The issue of the Council President’s stipend of $25.00 would be readdressed when the Commission reconvenes in 2003. Alan Strange: Stated that he would like to see the Council President’s stipend increased to $50.00 per month for the fiscal year of 2003 based on the additional responsibilities. The Council President has a great responsibility and spends a lot more time in the community.  Page 5 April 25, 2002 Jan Hillman: Stated that until they have a more complete listing of what the other Council member’s duties are she feels they would be making an unfair decision if they were to increase the Council President’s monthly stipend. Mariwyn Tinsley: Stated that the Council President has a significant amount of staff support in putting together the agenda. Alan Strange: Stated he thought they were all in agreement except on one issue. He had said his piece and that the last thing on the list of Council President duties that says, “maintains knowledge of all issues impacting the City of Bremerton,” is pretty all encompassing and to require that of City Council President and reward them with and additional (and I don’t know how many hours they put in) three cents an hour over the course of a month by giving them twenty-five dollars is almost an insult. Mariwyn Tinsley: Stated that you really expect every City Council member to have knowledge of that. Alan Strange: Brought up the fact that the last time the Council members received an increase was in 1998. He suggested that increasing the stipend for 2002 may be asking too much, but suggested increasing the stipend for 2003. If when the Commission meets in 2003 they felt differently they could reverse it for 2004. Jan Hillman: Stated that it would be far more difficult to justify reversing any decision than it would be to justify a decision once it’s made. We are better off setting it aside until we feel comfortable, or making a decision now. Alan Strange: Stated that he thought the Commission’s task under the City Ordinance is to evaluate the evidence, make a recommendation and draft an ordinance. Whether it goes up or down is based on the evidence rather than the difficulty of the decision. Jan Hillman: Stated that she felt that was true, but that she didn’t feel we had enough information on the duties of the other Council members. Mariwyn Tinsley: Stated she felt we had a lot of information such as information from comparable cities, the survey data that was collected the last time the Commission met and job assignment duties. She didn’t feel uncomfortable making a decision based on the information that they had collected. There was a suggestion that they increase the Council President’s stipend by the same percentage as the Council members increase, which would increase the stipend to $32.50 per month.  Page 6 April 25, 2002 Jan Hillman: Stated that it would look silly to increase it by 25%. She felt that if they were going to increase the stipend it should be increased by $25.00 instead of a percentage. David Grindstaff: Agreed with Mariwyn that they had enough information to make a decision. After lengthy discussions the Commission decided to table the issue of the Council President’s stipend until they meet again in 2003. The proposal on the table is to amend the proposed ordinance to read as follows: Council salaries will be increased by $50.00 per month effective June 1, 2002 to $650.00 per month. For fiscal year 2003 salaries will be increased by an additional $100.00 to $750.00 per Council member per month. In addition, the Council President will receive a stipend of $25.00 per month for both 2002 and 2003. Motion to adopt the proposed ordinance as amended. M/S/C/U (Strange/Tinsley) Set date for first Study Session in 2003: The Commission agreed to meet again on Thursday, January 9, 2003 at 5:30 PM. Meeting Adjourned at 6:14 PM