The Carroll City Council failed to pass an ordinance amendment at their meeting earlier this week, which would have added a stipend for council members to compensate them for time spent in unscheduled meetings. City Manager Aaron Kooiker says the topic was briefly discussed during a recent meeting, and in response, he drafted an ordinance amendment.
Currently, council members are paid $200 per month, while the mayor is paid $400 per month. Ward 4 Councilwoman Carolyn Siemann says she reviewed data from the last 19 months of council meetings to calculate an approximate hourly rate for officials.
According to Siemann’s calculations, council pay averages out to about $79.47 per hour during the period she reviewed. At-Large Councilwoman JJ Schreck notes that Siemann only counted hours spent in session for her calculations and did not account for time spent answering constituents’ phone calls and emails, conducting research, and attending to other city business outside of the council chambers. Ward 2 Councilman Jason Atherton says adding a $50 stipend for special meetings would force officials to be more conscientious about when and how they are scheduled.
The Carroll City Council hosted at least nine special meetings in the last 19 months, which included discussions on economic development, pending litigation, and potential real estate transfers. These meetings would have cost taxpayers $3,150 if the proposed amendment had been in place. According to Atherton, nearly all of those special meetings could have been handled during regularly scheduled ones if city officials had been better prepared. A motion from Atherton to approve the stipend amendment failed on a 3-2 vote, as the council did not reach the required four-vote majority for its passage.
