Easthampton City Council hosts public forum on proposed mayor’s raise

Nov. 23, 2020 | Angelica J. Core
angelica@thereminder.com

The Easthampton City Council met remotely on Nov. 18.
Screen capture by Angelica J. Core

EASTHAMPTON – A public hearing took place during the city council’s meeting on Nov. 18 to discuss the increase of salaries for the positions of mayor, school committee members, and city council president. These increases will not go into effect until January 2022.

The council did not come to a vote on how they should handle the raise for the mayor position.

Some councilors were not comfortable with increasing the annual salary from $75,000 to $90,000 for various reasons, such as it not being enough or it being too much. Councilor James Kwiecinski shared an idea that he came up with. He presented a plan that would increase the mayor’s salary each year of his or her term, gradually increasing by 2 percent each year.

Councilors spoke in favor of Kwiecinski’s idea saying it seems like a fair approach.

Rist made a motion to continue the public hearing around the mayor’s raise to Dec. 2 and move the item back to the Finance Committee for re-review of incremental step increases.

The motion passed and the public hearing surrounding the mayor’s position’s salary will continue on Dec. 2 at the Finance Committee meeting.

The committee voted to increase school committee members’ salaries from $1,400 to $2,000 and the committee chair to $2,250.

The committee also voted to set the annual salary of the city council chair position’s salary to $4,500.

Councilor Thomas Peake also brought forward a proposal to create an Ordinance Review Committee comprised of seven members, up to three being members of the city council’s committee. The measure passed.

“The committee would have one year to review the city ordinances and report back to the council with any proposed changes,” Peake said.

He added that their job would be to present a report stating their findings and what they recommend changes. This committee will also report any bias or prejudice within the ordinances.

City Council President Margaret Conniff would be the one to appoint these individuals to the new committee. Anyone who would like to join the Ordinance Review Committee can submit their application to Conniff by Nov. 9.

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