01-27-75 Council Meeting Minutes

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REGULAR MEETING JANUARY 27 1975 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE MEETING (CONTINUED) was generally drawn, and he felt the Council should take action now. Chairman Newburn asked for a roll call vote on the motion to amend. The motion carried by a roll call vote of six ayes (Councilmen Serge, Szymkowiak, Miller, Taylor, Kopczynski and Nemeth) and three nays (Councilmen Horvath, Newburn and Parent). Councilman-_Miller then made a motion that the ordinance be recommended favorably, as amended, to the Common Council, seconded by Councilman Taylor. The motion carried. Councilman Horvath opposed and Councilman Parent abstained. ORDINANCE AN ORDINANCE FIXING THE ANNUAL SALARIES, PAYABLE FROM THE GENERAL FUND, FOR OFFICERS OF THE CITY OF SOUTH BEND TO BE ELECTED FOR THE TERM COMMENCING JANUARY 1, 1976, AND FIXING THE TIME WHEN THE SAME SHALL TAKE EFFECT. This being the time heretofore set for public hearing on the above ordinance, proponents and opponents were given an opportunity to be heard. Council President Parent made the presentation for the salary requested by the Council. He felt it was very difficult to justify the salary of only $3,600 a year. He felt that the Council was requesting that a salary be paid for lost time in serving as a councilman and because of the many requests for contributions to charitable organi zations, and expense of their cars. He felt that the work of the Council has reached a point where many hours have been taken from other duties. Mr. James Roemer, City Attorney, spoke on behalf of the Mayor and stated that the kind of work done by the Council and Mayor puts that individual into the position where there is a great deal of pressure. He stated that the Mayor puts in many hours a day for the city, and the last time a raise was received was in 1969 when the Mayor's salary was set at $25,000. He referred to the salaries of those persons in public educa- tion which were a great deal higher than the salary of the head of the executive branch of government. Mr. Leo Wallisch, 446 LaPorte Avenue, indicated that he was speaking of realism when he referred to the proposed salary of $30,000 for the Mayor and the increments until 1979. He stated that the Mayor had two secretaries, a controller and other cabinet heads. He felt that the recommenda- tion of the Civic Planning Association should be followed, and he commended the Council and Clerk for their work in the past. Mrs. Irene K. Gammon, City Clerk, spoke briefly on a justification of her proposed salary. She indicated that the work load in the office had increased tremendously because of the active Council and administration. She indicated that two of her employees work with traffic violations while her two deputies handled regular business in the office as well as work for the Council. She indicated that the salary had been cut in 1971 because the city court records were taken from the office; however, traffic violations were still being done in her office. Mrs. Frederick Mutzl of the Fair Tax Association, stated that the association was aware o the responsibility of the elected offices. She mentioned the cost per year of the Mayor's car at $1,680 and travel expense of approximately $1,500. She wondered if the salaries should be raised with a three -year built -in raise. She stated that the country was faced with the problem of inflation, and she felt the Council was putting an inflationary raise in the ordinance. She wondered if something could be written into the ordinance that the tax rate would not be raised in the four -year period. Council President Parent indicated that, in the social security programs, the individuals on fixed incomes were given built -in raises. Mrs. Mutzl wondered why the raises would be effective in 1976 rather than 1977. She wondered if this was fair as someone new could b coming into office and starting out with the raise being effective the first year. She indicated that, when a person runs for office, the amount of salary is known and the duties of the office should be known to them. Councilman Serge talked about the increase in the salary of Mayor Allen during his administration and the increase in the tax rate. He indicated that the city's tax rate at this time was frozen and could not be raised. Councilman Kopczynski stated that he believed the Council should be compensated for time lost on regular jobs. He felt only the rich and elite would be able to run for office if this compensation was not given. He st -tted that it cost him $5,000 a year to be a councilman. He felt he had saved the city money during his term of office. He stated that, when he ran for office, the amount of time needed for federal programs was not known, and during the last three years, a considerable amount of time had been spent on federal revenue sharing programs alone. He stated that the position and job of the councilman has totally changed since the present Council took office. He also felt that none of the councilmen had shirked the responsibility of the office, and he stated that he had no qualms about the amount of raise the councilmen were asking for He felt good candidates should be found by the civic organizations in the community to run for public office in the future. He felt that some of the recommendations made by civic organizations were made before the full facts were known, and he referred to the letter received by the councilmen from the Civic Planning Association concerning the proposed salaries. Mrs. Mutzl indicated that she appreciated the amount of work the Council had done for the city and the problems which faced the Council. She felt the federal programs were creating problems for the cities. Councilman Kopczynski indicated that the Council had no control over the federal programs and the city administration and Council should seek its fair share back to the community from the federal government in return for federal income taxes taken by the government from the citizens. Councilman Szymkowiak stated that he ran for office because he felt the people in his district needed help, and he felt there was no amount of money that coul be paid for the amount of knowledge given the councilmen. He felt the employees should be given a fair wage, but when an individual ran for office, he knew the amount of salary beforehand. He felt services should be given to the citizens and the present salaries should be maintained. He wondered how the city could afford to raise the salaries. A resident of 230 Birdsell felt that an increase of 10 would be reasonable to take care of the officials' expenses. Mr. Gene Evans, Executive Secretary of the Civic Planning Association, read into the record the following stateme of the association dated January 24, 1975: Committee of the Whole South Bend Common Council Mr. Odell Newburn, Chairman City of South Bend, Indiana Mr. Newburn and Gentlemen: January 24, 1975 The proposed salary ordinance for elected city officials for the term beginning January 1, 1976, has been reviewed by the Board of Directors of the South Bend Civic Planning Association. We would like to submit these observations and recommendations.