HomeMy WebLinkAbout11 19 2014 CMCITY OF CHUBBUCK 121
Council Meeting Minutes
November 19, 2014
6:00 p.m.
Minutes of a regular Council Meeting held at the City of Chubbuck Council Chambers,
November 19, 2014. The meeting was called to order at 6:00pm 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.
The Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag was led by Sam Morrison.
The Invocation was given by Earl Phippen.
Approval of the minutes for the council meeting held November 5, 2014 and for the council
study session held November 12, 2014. Councilmember Ellis motioned to approve the minutes
with two changes that were requested by Councilmember Marshall to the study session minutes.
Councilmember Marshall seconded. Roll call vote: Ellis -yes, Lewis -yes, Morrison -yes,
Marshall -yes.
Public Comment Period - Elected Officials Compensation.
Mayor instructed the audience for the public comment period. Please give your name and
address. If you are in agreement with what has been said you can simply state that.
Niki Tayosm - 4604 Burley Drive. Ms. Taysom would like more information on the proposal.
Niki supports fair in wages, she does oppose benefits.
Boyd Byrd, 5036 Kevin, Boyd is opposed to the increase at this time. He does realize the
money is available. However, he would like this money used differently. Mr. Byrd stated that
our Mayor knew the salary at the time he ran for office. Maybe the council should adjust the
salary for inflation. Mr. Byrd said that the council has some idea of what the job entails and
trusts their judgment.
Bob Blanchard 855 Gloria, agrees with Boyd Byrd. Mr. Blanchard was a public employee for 35
years and had to do something extraordinary to receive a raise. He could support a cost of living
increase, such as 5%.
Glen Schwartz 762 Homestead, is opposed to this raise. Mr. Schwartz has taken the opportunity
to talk to many people and nobody is in favor of more than 5%. He reminded the council of
what happened in the last election and reminded the council that there is an election scheduled
for next year. He said to the council "You all took an oath to serve when you were elected to
office and you all were aware of the salaries when you ran."
Brian Blad, Mayor of City of Pocatello, The Mayor of Chubbuck's hours and commitments
often mirror what I have done as the Mayor of Pocatello. Tomorrow morning we have a meeting
at lam and the day for both of us won't end until 9pm. That is not an unusual day. The Mayors
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all across Idaho are busy. The phone rings at 2am sometimes. There are many hours put
into this job. Mayor Blad would think the salary of the position should be enough to attract
capable citizens. Comparisons of similar size cities and comparisons of department head salaries
can help in coming up with what you would like to pay your Mayor. Mayor Blad does think the
compensation for the City of Chubbuck's Mayor is too low. Often the time frame between
adjustments to elected officials salary is long as there are few who have the desire or the will
power to stand up and say lets adjust elected officials compensation. If you're doing your job
right you probably should look at your wage too. You have heard a lot of negative things. There
are many positive things to say as well. It is too bad that the citizens of Chubbuck don't
recognize the good things that have been done by this Mayor.
Niki Taysom ask to add to her testimony. She stated George Washington served without pay.
Her dad served without pay. Higher pay and benefits do not attract integrity.
Bob Blanchard ask for the chance to rebut Mayor Blad. Mr. Blanchard ask rhetorically "What
have you done for us?" I will tell you what you have done for us. We are the proud owners of
chrome plated fire tanker, and the sewer to nowhere. These are the things that give me heart
burn.
Councilmember Marshall has tried to talk to people in the community. He has found the general
consensus to be against it. Anyone who was for the raise would not give more than 5%. He
believes the council should say no raise, or no more than a 5% raise, this is what he would do.
Councilmember Ellis has tried to talk to as many different demographics as possible. He did
have some citizens say there should be a raise. Then they ask what is the City doing to grow.
He had several willing to give as much as a 10% raise, however, not all at once, the raise should
be graduated in two or three steps.
Councilmember Lewis stated that this is not an issue of pay for Mayor England. This is an issue
of the pay for the Mayor of Chubbuck. He does not support the amount in the draft ordinance
but has not found very many people who don't support a raise of some sort. He stated that he
himself has called the Mayor many times, often getting his voice mail and always having his call
returned. Councilmember Lewis believes this Mayor has made himself assessable. There has
been discussion of cost of living adjustments. He thinks this is reasonable.
Councilmember Marshall said "this is a city council decision but we did not bring this up? Who
brought this up?"
Councilmember Ellis remembers this was brought up by Rich in a budget discussions. However,
who brought this up is irrelevant. It needed to be brought forward, and it needs to be discussed.
This is why we should codify the review for every election year. Chubbuck is the 16th largest
City in the state. Who started this is not as important as trying to look at the City's operations.
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The last two raises for employees were funded by operation cuts. We have created a road
maintenance line item that is just over a quarter of a million dollars. We have been doing a great
job. If I was to approve a raise, I would expect increased performance and many more
operational successes. Tonight there will be no motion. The public input period was for the
benefit of the council in helping them gather information. At the next council meeting let's look
at a adopting or denying an ordinance that has been adjusted for the input we have received.
Councilmember Marshall agrees with Josh. He stated that you can be busy and not productive.
He asked for salary information on Ammon's Mayor.
Councilmember Lewis agrees that the time frame should be codified. He would like to remind
the council that there are many outside constraints, out of the Mayor's control, that effect how
well the City of Chubbuck is doing. He thinks we should be careful in tying the salary to a
positive development measurement because of these very relevant outside factors that we cannot
influence.
Councilmember Ellis stated that the citizens do want to know what the Mayor and Council are
doing. We should always be trying to improve efficiencies and reduce cost. We need to
improve our tax base moving from residential to commercial. We need to push ourselves to
offer as much as we can for as little as we can.
Mayor England ended the public comment session and stated, I appreciate the opportunity to be
your Mayor.
The bids for the Parks Wide Area Mower were presented to the council.
Steve explained the bids presented on the bid tab and explained that the money for this mower
has been saved over the last 7 years in our capital replacement fund. The council asked the ages
of the mowers being replaced, the trade in value of the mowers, if the mowers were still
functional. The council wanted to know what the need was for this purchase. Steve explained
that there was a ping in the engine of the mower being replaced, maintenance on the mowers is
increasing. Also there are new regulations, effective in 2015 that will make the mowers about
$20,000 more than the bids received. Councilmember Ellis motioned to table this item to next
council meeting. Councilmember Lewis seconded. Roll call vote: Ellis -yes, Lewis -yes,
Morrison -yes, Marshall -yes.
Discussion on holding the regularly scheduled meeting for December 17, 2014.
It has been standard tradition to cancel the second meeting in December. There is nothing
compelling from staff that would need to be taken care of in this meeting. This item will be
brought up again in the December 3, 2014 meeting.
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Computer printout claims for November 19, 2014 were presented to the Mayor and Council
for approval and payment. Councilmember Morrison moved to approve the claims for
November 19, 2014 as published. Councilmember Marshall seconded. Roll call vote: Ellis -yes,
Lewis -yes, Morrison -yes, Marshall -yes.
At 7:05pm Mayor England adjourned the meeting.
Kevin England ayor Rich M an, City Clerk