Plymouth City Council members held a lot of discussion over an ordinance that would fix the salaries of appointed officers and employees, fire and police personnel for 2020.
Councilman Jeff Houin noted that it would be a two percent increase for all employees affected except for the building commissioner, airport manager and the city attorney.
While he agrees that the salaries of the building commissioner and airport manager should increase by four percent to bring the salaries more in line where their wages should be when reviewing the salary survey, the city attorney’s salary is already on the higher end which he doesn’t support.
Houin stressed that his comments are not directed to the performance of the city attorney, but felt that the four percent increase should be reconsidered.
Mayor Mark Senter commented that he recommended the four percent raise for the city attorney because of the amount of work that he’s put in on several projects and other legal documents and expertise on issues for the city. Houin agreed that the work he’s done is above and beyond, but can’t support the ordinance as all of the employees show a great amount of work for the city.
Councilman Duane Culp supported the increase for the airport manager as did Councilman Bill Walters and Councilman Randy Longanecker. They also commented on the work done by the city attorney.
However, when it came to a vote on the second reading of the ordinance, Councilman Don Ecker, Jr. plus Houin and Longanecker voted no while Culp and Walters supported the ordinance’s passage. Councilwoman Shiloh Milner and Councilman Gary Cook were not in attendance.
Ecker, Jr. asked Mayor Senter if Clerk-Treasurer Jeanine Xaver could provide additional information such as head counts of each department, both full-time and part-time, for review and look deeper into a recommendation for the council. Since he was a part of the extensive salary review process a couple of years ago, Mayor Senter and the council members agreed to allow the review to take place.
