Brooklyn Park council, Charter Commission split on pay increases; working group to refine options

The Brooklyn Park City Council held a work session discussion with the Charter Commission on council and mayor compensation, focusing on whether to raise base salaries or rely on supplemental compensation and data tracking.

Charter Commission chair Amy Hanson said the commission reviewed peer cities and recommended raises "to compare Brooklyn Park compensation to peer cities and the metro area," and described the commission's proposal as a way to quantify elected officials' outside activities for future salary decisions. "Just for the record, my name is Amy Hanson, and I'm the current chair of the Charter Commission," Hanson said, explaining that commission members asked the council to use supplemental compensation data to show how often council members and the mayor attend external events.

Council members responded with differing views. One member said they supported the commission's recommendations while urging better clarity on what supplemental pay covers. Another council member, identifying themselves as Shamara Freeman, said she supported the commission's recommendation "with a little bit more discussion," while acknowledging constituents had raised concerns.

Several council members noted the supplemental-compensation mechanism is underused: council staff reviewed recent years and found cumulative supplemental requests were "less than $2,000" over two to three years. Commissioners and council members discussed changing the prior-authorization requirement so an elected official could submit a claim for an event at the first meeting after it occurred, rather than seeking approval in advance, which the commission said would better capture last-minute or unplanned official duties.

Discussion also covered a proposed biannual cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) that would automatically adjust salaries every two years and the alternative of simply raising the mayor's base pay to better reflect the typical part-time but demanding nature of the job. A council member urged the group to avoid tracking every minor activity and instead to focus on reasonable, reportable events (for example, multi‑day conferences, out‑of‑town legislative lobbying or official representational duties).

Rather than adopt immediate changes, the council and commission agreed by consensus to form a small working group (recommended: two council members, two Charter Commission members, HR staff and other appropriate staff) to draft specific ordinance changes and a clear form/process for supplemental compensation and to return recommendations to the council. The work group will also examine position descriptions and propose language to help quantify representative duties before any salary change.

The working group is the next step; council members emphasized the need for clear draft ordinance language, HR input on an equivalent 20‑hour/week job description for benchmarking, and a narrow list of supplemental-compensation circumstances that will be recorded for future research and transparency.

The council did not take a vote on pay at the work session; further drafts will return to the council for formal readings and possible action.