Council adopts revised pay measure after amendment, including clerk salary increase

The council debated Item 1 — a compensation resolution affecting registers of voters and a proposed Clerk of Committee salary increase — for more than an hour before approving the item as amended.

Sponsor Alderman Scott described the proposal as necessary to staff the council effectively and cited a committee recommendation. Alderman Smith moved to strike a provision that would give the registrar a $1 increase, arguing that the $1 would negate the ordinance’s built-in COLA (cost-of-living adjustment). "The dollar is basically a slap in the face to them," Alderman Smith said, urging colleagues to preserve the ability for registers to receive COLA increases.

Alderman Simpson offered an amendment that restored corporation counsel, treasurer and mayor to the set of positions covered by the change and substituted a 2.75% formula for the $1 increase. Corporation counsel (Attorney Pekorsky) and finance staff clarified timing and whether the COLA and an awarded raise could both apply; attorneys said ordinance language allows only a single raise mechanism at a time. Concerns about the Clerk of Committee pay — a proposed $30,000 figure — focused on undefined duties and hours. One councilor said they had sent a duty description to a colleague and the ordinance provides the council authority to set hours commensurate with salary.

Following debate and a roll-call vote, the amendment passed and Item 1 as amended carried (vote recorded "motion carries" with two recorded nays). The council did not specify retroactivity in detail; staff were asked to confirm effective dates under the ordinance.