Dunsmuir council favors per-meeting stipend for planning commissioners, sends amount to finance committee

City staff and council members discussed whether to offer a stipend to planning commission members to address quorum issues caused by two vacancies on the seven-member board. City Manager Reece presented options including a monthly stipend, a per-meeting stipend, reducing the commission size to five members, or abolishing the commission and transferring duties to the council. Reece noted that a $50 per-meeting stipend would "basically cost the city $350 per meeting" and would amount to about $4,200 per year.

Council members said they preferred a per-meeting stipend to incentivize attendance and participation. Council member Lucchese said a per-meeting payment means "if you don't attend, you don't get paid," and asked the finance committee to review an appropriate per-meeting amount. Council member Brian (Bryant) said a stipend should cover childcare or similar costs as an incentive and proposed moving the item to finance for a recommendation. Several council members also discussed whether historic-district delegates or members doing extra application reviews should receive additional compensation, with a range of suggestions from a flat monthly amount to an increased per-meeting rate.

The council did not adopt a stipend at the meeting. Instead, members asked staff to draft formal ordinance or policy language and referred the proposed per-meeting stipend and specific amount to the finance committee for review, to return with formal language at a future meeting.