Commission debates removing fixed mayor/council salaries from charter and creating a review committee

The commission reviewed Section 4.05, which currently lists fixed pay amounts for mayor and council members in the charter. The chair proposed removing hard-coded figures from the charter and instead creating a citizen "blue ribbon" committee to study compensation and recommend adjustments to the council, with any change enacted by ordinance through the normal budget process. "I would suggest that we remove the actual figures from the charter," the chair said, arguing a committee could perform a contemporaneous market analysis.

Commission debate split along familiar lines. Some members favored automatic cost-of-living adjustments, saying the charter's promise of annual adjustments had not been implemented reliably and that inflation erodes compensation. Others argued council positions are public service and automatic COLAs are inappropriate; they favored periodic market review and explicit public recommendation.

Practical details were raised: council members have access to town health insurance and expense reimbursement, and any blue ribbon panel should be structured to avoid conflicts of interest (applications, public comment, council appointment of citizens). Several commissioners referenced Naples and other municipalities that use outside committees to recommend pay. The commission asked staff to draft alternative language: (a) remove specific salary figures from the charter, and (b) create a process (blue ribbon committee or defined periodic review) for recommending compensation to the council for adoption under the budget.