Council weighs administrator hire and aims to reduce outside legal costs

Council members discussed staffing and pay during the workshop, focusing on a proposed restructured administration that would include an administrator/clerk, finance specialist/treasurer and deputy clerk. Staff said consultant-provided scales were used to build wage lines and cautioned against cutting salary allocations before positions are filled and negotiations conclude.

Staff presented sample wage steps and hourly rates for proposed positions and said they budgeted conservatively to ensure a hire could be offered. Maggie, speaking as finance specialist, said she included a grade-step projection for budgeting: “as a finance specialist, my estimated wages would be 3548,” to illustrate the scale staff used in the spreadsheets.

The council also probed professional legal fees. Staff reported year-to-date legal spending and said the high labor-attorney fees this year were tied in part to the city having been without a permanent administrator, which required more outside counsel engagement. Several council members proposed trimming the professional-fees line to $40,000 for 2026, conditional on staff producing detailed invoices and clarifying whether expected costs will fall once internal staffing stabilizes.

Councilors did not adopt final wage or legal-fee figures at the workshop but directed staff to provide invoice detail and a hiring timeline so elected officials can evaluate whether reduced outside counsel spending is realistic next year.