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Home My WebLink About11 12 2014 CM Study SessionCITY OF CHUBBUCK 115 Council Study Session November 12, 2014 3:00 p.m. Minutes of a regular Council Study Session held at the Chubbuck Council Chambers, November 12, 2014. The meeting was called to order at 3:OOpm by Mayor Kevin England. Rich Morgan called the roll. Mayor Kevin England -present, Councilmembers: Josh Ellis -present, Ryan Lewis -present, Kermit Morrison - present, Brent Marshall -present. Elected Official Compensation Councilmember Ellis started the conversation by stating that he, as a councilmember, is not interested in adjusting councilmembers' compensation and then asked for an explanation on why $65,000 was the number that was suggested in the ordinance. Councilmember Marshall then continued the discussion. Most of the input Councilmember Marshall has had concerning the adjustment of pay has been negative. One of the reasons that has been stated for raising the elected officials' compensation is that it has not been changed for 10 years. Councilmember Marshall does not think that reason justifies this large of a raise. Councilmember Marshall talked about his employees getting a raise when they increased the bottom line of his business. He does not think the bottom line at Chubbuck as increased. Councilmember Marshall shared some average wages across the state such as Bannock County's average income in 2006 of $44,000. He does not want to raise taxes to give this raise. Councilmember Marshall did mention last year's budget session and that the City was able to maintain the levy at a current level. He would like to wait and look at this issue over the next year and see if it can happen in the future. Councilmember Marshall does not think we need to attract people with money. He thinks $45,000 is a fair salary and does not see any justification for a raise. Councilmember Marshall also pointed out that in addition to the remuneration the Mayor gets he is provided with a car and a cell phone. Councilmember Lewis explained that although it is an uncomfortable task, something he does not enjoy, Idaho code requires the elected official salary and adjustments be set by the City council. He also explained that this particular issue was on the last meeting's agenda and was postponed then in order to try and collect some public opinion on the matter. He asked the audience, in their testimony, if they would try to present facts and not present any personal agendas. Councilmember Lewis would like to know what the people of Chubbuck want to pay the office of Mayor. He believes that the Mayors salary is a reflection of what the city thinks of this position. He posed the question in trying to help in analyzing the situation - Is the present salary ok, if not why and what should we look at to make changes. Mayor England explained the process that was used in looking at the elected officials' compensation. the City has completed salary studies and collected information from surrounding communities and communities of similar size for comparison. He then explained that this is not a public hearing but rather a public comment period. Council Study Session Minutes Continued Page 2 November 12, 2014 117 Glen Schwartz, 762 Homestead, commented that those who run for Mayor are aware of the $45,000 salary when they run. Mr. Schwartz believes comparison to Blackfoot would not be a good thing as last he had heard, the City of Blackfoot had a million dollar deficit. Mr. Schwartz thinks a 45% increase is obscene. He is not opposed to a raise but the raise should be reasonable, 5 to 10%. Mr. Schwartz would like to see what improvements at the City, would warrant a raise. From his perspective not much has improved. The Fire Department is in turmoil, the Police Department is in turmoil, Customer service at City hall is terrible and we are still operating with the same department heads. Mr. Schwartz stated from his perspective the city is still operating the same way we were in 2004. Rich Marley, 5150 Stuart, has lived in the Chubbuck community for over 50 years. He remembers during the last election, hearing the candidates say they would bring some real leadership to the city, spur economic growth and cut costs. He doesn't think removing the pop machine is cutting costs, let's get down to some real ways to do this. He would also like to see better ways to inform the citizens of the issues facing the city and suggested an approve or disapprove pamphlet, the people need to be involved with these decisions. Rich Rommel, 5764 Eden, Mr. Rommel stated that he would like more information on why we need an ordinance and what is in the proposed ordinance. Tom Holmes, City Attorney, explained that elected officials' salaries are required by state code to be set by ordinance. The Mayor asked if there was any more public comment. There was none. Councilmember Lewis pointed out that the last ordinance dealing with elected officials' salary was passed in 2006. He would like to ensure that these issues are addressed more frequently. Councilmember Lewis would like this requirement of review included in the ordinance. Councilmember Ellis would also like to see the requirement of regular review codified. The comments he has heard today are similar to what he has heard in talking with the public over the last few weeks. Those he has talked to think the raise is too large. He looked at Rexburg as a comparison. He would like to see Chubbuck aggressively compete with the Idaho Falls area for economic growth. Councilmember Marshall stated that he agrees with Councilmember Ellis. Just yesterday he had someone ask why Pocatello and Chubbuck don't merge. A merger between the two cities would reduce duplication of services. Councilmember Marshall does not see the city going forward. Councilmember Lewis would like the Council to look at the Office of Mayor and ensure that we are not making a decision like this because of a person or a certain time frame. He would like to address this issue knowing how the citizens view the position of the Mayor of Chubbuck. The salary offered for this position will affect the type of person that could consider running for office. If we lived in a perfect world, what Ben Franklin said is true but we don't live in a perfect world. If we don't look at the standpoint of having a CEO in Chubbuck we might shut the door to some who would run but won't without proper compensation. Council Meeting Minutes Continued Page 3 November 12, 2014 119 Councilmember Ellis does not want to see Chubbuck combine with Pocatello. Chubbuck has something to offer over Pocatello. There might be some things we can do in conjunction with Pocatello, even as an entire valley but the political subdivisions should not combine. The competition between the two cities, is healthy competition. This combined with a good working relationship should elevate our standard of living. Councilmember Morrison realizes this is not an 8 to 5 job. He would like to see what kind of time is spent outside of the office hours. He also would like to ensure the city is looking at the position, not a person or time frame, when having this discussion. Mayor England stated that this was brought before the council because of the ordinance requirement to do so. He stated that he is doing things differently and believes as those items he is working on finalize the citizens will see them. Councilmember Marshall wanted to point out that it is the City Council's task to approve a change and do so by passing an ordinance. The council did not request a proposal but is tasked to review the proposal. Councilmember Ellis commented that in setting the fiscal year 2015 budget the council held the line on raising the levy. The pay raise the employees received was from budget cuts not raises in taxes. Pocatello took a significant increase in budget, Blackfoot has done the same. The Chubbuck City Council and City staff has tried to keep costs down. We made a good attempt and have been successful. Donna Rogers, 5008 Carnation, likes the idea of a small amount rather than the large raise. She believes a large raise like what was proposed will infuriate the citizens. The meeting was adjourned at 4pm. 5 Kevin England, Pr Rich Morgan, City Clerk