Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Public Comment Compensation topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Resident urges Charter Review Commission to require voter approval for compensation beyond salary
Summary
During public comment, resident Howard Connell urged the commission to propose a charter amendment requiring that any compensation to council members beyond salary be placed before voters on the ballot.
At the start of the meeting, resident Howard Connell addressed the Charter Review Commission during the citizen comment period and urged changes to the charter relating to compensation for council members.
Connell told the commission he was motivated by a belief that too much power has been centralized in "small pockets," citing what he described as an earlier council attempt to provide free health care in a manner he called an effort to "go around the charter." He said he and more than two dozen residents had collected signatures to oppose that prior action.
He asked the commission to "put something in the charter that requires anything beyond the salary for compensation be put to the vote of the citizens on a ballot," adding, "After all, we're paying the bills, aren't we?" He also asked how the commission's recommendations would function when city council could choose to ignore them.
The commission received the comment and later returned to charter deliberations; Connell returned during the citizen hearing and said he "stand[s] by my previous comments and my sincerity." No action was taken on his specific request during the meeting; commissioners continued with their review of Articles 10–13.
