Gardiner mayor, council agree to form ad hoc committee to review employee compensation after solicitor opinion

Mayor Nixon told the Gardiner City Council on Monday that the city solicitor issued an opinion interpreting voting thresholds for ordinances in the city charter and state general laws and recommended a small procedural fix to avoid future confusion. "There is a general theme with everyone that there's a simple fix that just needs to be made," the mayor said, adding that the goal is to produce a balanced compensation proposal that helps recruitment and retention while respecting the city's financial responsibility. The council voted to place the solicitor's communication on file. The motion to place the communication on file was made by Councilor Kazinskas and seconded by Councilor Mack; the motion passed on a voice vote. Mayor Nixon and Council President Tayros told the council they will convene an ad hoc committee of two councilors and two administration members to review competing compensation plans and attempt to craft a single proposal with broader support. Councilors Kazinskas and Hegland were identified as the council representatives; Mayor Nixon said Director Morse from the human resources department will serve as the administration's other member and the mayor himself will participate. Nixon said the city solicitor advised that for certain ordinance votes the charter requires a majority of the full council, which in the mayor's reading means a minimum of six votes to send an ordinance to first printing and a higher supermajority (a minimum of eight votes) to send compensation votes to final enactment under Chapter 44 of the general laws. "We knew that neither of the proposals had 8 votes to send to second printing, even if it had the 6 votes to send to first printing," the mayor said. Council discussion at the meeting focused on creating a unified proposal that could command broader support; no formal ordinance or compensation change was voted on at the meeting. The only formal action recorded on this item was the vote to place the solicitor's communication on file, after which the council directed the named representatives to meet and report back to the full council.