12/02/2008 Meeting Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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Council Minutes of 12/2/2008 5% is reduced to $12,105 per year from $12,742 as introduced. The projected savings for all four years for all five seats is $12,740. • Ordinance 2008-146, an ordinance establishing and fixing the compensation for the Mayor of the City of North Olmsted for the term of office commencing January 1, 2010 and ending December 31, 2013 and declaring an emergency as amended. As it states, this is the compensation range for the office of Mayor of the city of North Olmsted. As introduced originally, the legislation called for a 10% decrease in pay, which from 2009 to 2010 would result in the compensation going from $96,928 down to $87,235 in 2010. It would then remain flat for four straight years. Again, the administration, through assistance of the directors, went through a significant amount of research to demonstrate that the compensation for the office of Mayor was in fact not disproportionate with what other communities of a similar size and similar economic structure were paying. Again, the Mayor expressed support that the position not be decreased and that in fact be locked in at a four year wage freeze. Discussion broke into two camps: those who felt a four year freeze was warranted and those who felt that there should be some reduction, whether it be a 5% or 10%, given the economy and the inability to change it once it is established. A majority of Council was expressing the opinion that a more conservative approach would be in line. The Mayor did feel that the number selected, 5%, was arbitrary. Mr. Barker expressed a position that a reduction in pay showed leadership in a difficult time. The committee did recommend a compromise amount of 5%, which results in the compensation for the office of Mayor being reduced from the 2009 amount of $96,928 to $92,082. The projected savings over four years is $19,384.40. • Ordinance 2008-145, an ordinance establishing and fixing the compensation for the Director of Finance for the City of North Olmsted for the term of office commencing January 1, 2010 and ending December 31, 2013 and declaring an emergency. This sets the compensation for the Director of Finance. As introduced, the pay was originally supposed to take a 10% pay reduction from $94,810 down to $87,235. As with the office of Mayor, it was a similar argument. However, it was pointed out that, with respect to the Director of Finance position, that position was previously eligible for longevity pay. At the beginning of this year, City Council removed that position from a position eligible for longevity pay. Obviously, the compensation of the person holding the office cannot be reduced in term. So, the longevity pay is abolished as of the beginning of 2010 for the person holding the office. It was argued and suggested that position had already been forced to incur a pay reduction based upon the abolishment of the longevity pay. It was also argued and presented by the administration with similar statistics from other communities, that unlike the office of Mayor, the office of Law and Finance required specific educational backgrounds in order for an individual to hold that office-they were professional positions which required a certain background and experience. One resident felt that this was retaliatory, that perhaps City Council was being punitive in nature and acting out against those individuals in a political way. The point was made and noted to those in attendance that not all the financial cards were laying on the table. It was difficult for Council to speak about a financial situation because they 6