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Ethics and Oversight Committee votes to send attendance-based pay change to full court
Summary
The Ethics and Oversight Committee voted to forward a bylaw amendment to full court that would make supplemental commissioner pay contingent on meeting attendance: a 12.5% base monthly pay plus two 43.75% allocations tied to attendance. The amendment will go to full court in December for approval and could take effect in January.
The Ethics and Oversight Committee voted to send a proposal to the full county court that would change how commissioners receive supplemental pay, making a portion of pay contingent on meeting attendance.
Under the motion the committee forwarded, commissioners would continue to receive a base monthly pay equal to 12.5% of the currently appropriated amount. Additional pay would be distributed as two 43.75% allocations — one tied to steering meetings and another tied to full-court meetings — and would only be earned when the commissioner attends those meetings going forward. Committee members said the change would apply for the remainder of the current term if approved by the full court according to the bylaws.
Finance Director Markham, who explained how payroll would be adjusted if the committee moves forward, said, “The biggest change is we just need to move your payroll period. Somebody would just need to provide us with the documentation to support who gets paid what.” He described shifting pay processing to the end-of-month payroll to enable per-meeting allocations.
Committee members debated practical exceptions, noting several commissioners have jobs or on-call responsibilities (fire department rotations, consulting roles) that sometimes prevent attendance. Members asked for clear definitions of excused absences and whether emergency or medical situations would be exempt. Several speakers emphasized that any amendment could not be applied retroactively.
On procedure, the committee discussed bylaw requirements for amendment and the necessary majorities. The group agreed to forward the recommended change to full court in December; if the full court approves the required votes, the amendment could take effect in January.
The committee voted by roll call to forward the amendment; the chair announced the motion passed. The committee also asked staff to include a 12-month attendance record with the minutes for full-court consideration.
Executive Robinson said staff will gather comparative pay information from surrounding counties and get it to the committee before the next meeting.
The committee will present the bylaw amendment to full court in December and, if approved there, the new attendance-linked pay distribution would take effect at the start of the next implementation cycle.
