Corporation counsel: council generally cannot raise a salary by ordinance; item withdrawn

The City Council lifted a previously tabled agenda item and heard a legal opinion that led members to withdraw the item from consideration. Alan Rumsey, corporation counsel, told the council that, "the general answer is no," when asked whether the council could raise a salary by ordinance, and he said emergency exceptions cited in law did not apply in this case.

After the council moved to lift Item 5 from the table and heard Rumsey’s legal opinion, a motion to withdraw the item was made, seconded and adopted by the council. Interim City Administrator and Director of Community Development Mike Dion and Rumsey were present at the dais and identified themselves for the record before the legal opinion was delivered.

Rumsey characterized his remarks as legal advice: he said he had not "got into the weeds" of the statutory detail during his on-the-record statement but that the general rule prevents the council from raising a salary by ordinance and that narrow emergency exceptions exist but were not applicable to the item at hand. The council recorded the procedural votes to lift the item, then to leave the item withdrawn.

The meeting record does not include a textual citation to a specific statute or ordinance describing the prohibition; the clerk prefaced the meeting with a reading that "pursuant to the open meeting law, any person may make an audio or video recording" of the session. The transcript also records variations of the attorney’s name in colloquial references; the person who delivered the legal opinion identified himself on the record as Alan Rumsey, corporation counsel.

No further action was taken on the item during this meeting, and the council adjourned shortly afterward.