Daniels adds attendance rule to raises

MARION - Under a proposed change by at-large Councilman Josh Daniels, Marion City Council members may lose $150 for each regular meeting they miss beyond a four-meeting annual allotment beginning next year.

"I don't want to twist someone's arm, but I do mean to eliminate this two-to-three month absence problem," Daniels said after describing two past cases in which he said former members stopped showing up for those amounts of time.

"(Because of the raise,) you'd have to miss far more than four meetings before you'd be going in the hole, so what it does is create a psychological incentive," he said.

The change was added to a council pay raise ordinance, one of several that received a first reading Monday night. Unless declared an emergency, legislation must receive three public readings before a vote can be taken.

The rule would not be without complications.

City Auditor Kelly Carr said that because of tax issues, any fines incurred would have to be collected as a donation to the city, and her office could not enforce collection if a council member objected to paying. Law Director Mark Russell said the primary option in that situation would be a vote by the other council members to censure their colleague for refusing to pay.

Daniels' amendment, approved by a 7-2 vote, is attached to the ordinance giving council members a raise of $919 effective next term, although it specifically rewrites unrelated Council Rule 35 regarding absences. The change removes language on excused absences, instead inserting the fine after four absences.

The votes against the amendment came from at-large Councilwoman Rebecca Gustin and 6th Ward Councilman Dale Osborn, both of whom had pledged not to support raises for elected officials after Election Day during last week's finance committee meeting.

"I do believe the positions need to be increased. I think they are lower than they should be, but as I said the other night, I really don't feel this is the right time to bring this forward," Osborn said during the full meeting Monday.

Under the Ohio Revised Code, pay raises for elected officials must be passed before the start of the term they apply to in order to prevent current officeholders from giving themselves raises.

Osborn said that while the post-election timing of the raises isn't illegal, he sees it as unethical. Third Ward Councilman Mike Thomas and 2nd Ward Councilman Ayers Ratliff argued that it has been common practice in the city as long as they've held office.

Ratliff, along with Russell and Mayor Scott Schertzer, proposed much of the raises legislation, which would affect a range of top city administrators, not all of whom are elected.

Daniels said that while only his amendment made the raises personally palatable, recent cuts to the Ohio Public Employees Retirements System provide a reason for council members to receive a raise.

"That was the biggest hit I saw," he said.

While he was willing to accept it, he didn't like how younger public servants, particularly teachers, were affected. Under the OPERS system, he said, council members have to work 24 years to receive 20 years worth of service credits.

shickey@marionstar.com

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