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Mount Pleasant council reinstates $10 longevity payment after reconsideration
Summary
After public comment and internal apologies, the Mount Pleasant City Council voted to rescind the recent change and adopt Resolution 2024-19 to restore a $10 longevity payment, saying the reversal reflects the budget commitment and staff will implement the revised policy.
The Mount Pleasant City Council voted to reinstate a $10 longevity payment on a voice vote after reconsidering a recently approved change to the benefit.
Resident Michael King urged the council during public comment to reverse a reduction that he said effectively cut a bonus check in half and to delay any permanent reduction until the next budget year. "I'm asking the council to reconsider that decision and reverse it back to the way it was," King said, adding that the TCMA training requirement in the city manager posting should be a preferred qualification so local applicants could apply.
Why it matters: The reversal restores a budgeted payment that council members acknowledged employees had counted on. Council members apologized on the record for confusion about the policy's timing and format; one said he did not realize the payment had been changed to a one-time distribution rather than the recurring schedule some employees expected.
What the council did: After a motion to reconsider the prior action carried, a council member moved to include the $10 longevity payment in a newly numbered resolution (Resolution 2024-19). The motion was seconded, discussed, and adopted by a voice vote. The council did not record a roll-call tally in the transcript; the presiding official announced the resolution passed.
Council comments and context: Multiple council members offered apologies to city employees during debate and emphasized budget pressures when they initially supported the prior change. One council member described an upcoming unanticipated cost the city was facing, saying, "we're looking at 240,000 coming up here to pay for that," and framed reinstating the $10 as a priority despite the budget pressures. Another council member said they had learned after the prior meeting that the longevity payment had been moved to a one-time payment, a detail some members said they had not realized earlier.
Other items: The council also approved canceling the Dec. 3 regular meeting and said routine business would be brought at the Dec. 17 meeting.
The meeting record shows the council took formal procedural steps to reconsider Resolution 2024-18 (adopted Nov. 19, 2024) and then adopt Resolution 2024-19 to restore the $10 longevity payment. The council did not include detailed written vote tallies in the public record excerpt provided; the action was reflected as passed by voice vote.
