DECATUR -- Accusations of an illegal meeting held during a recent Decatur city council meeting surfaced Oct. 21 amid allegations that the council violated the Freedom of Information Act.
The allegation was that the council held an executive session on pay raises for the mayor, city recorder-treasurer and council members during the Sept. 14 meeting at Decatur City Hall.
The council did have an ordinance and a resolution on the agenda during this meeting dealing with pay raises, but that was not considered in executive session. Ordinance 15-05 established the salaries for both the mayor and city recorder-treasurer. Resolution 15-07 called for a pay increase for city council members.
When these items came up for action in the council meeting, Mayor Bob Tharp read the ordinance in its entirety and then called for discussion. He asked for comments or questions and then called for the vote, with the ordinance passing. Tharp then called for a vote to read the ordinance by title only, which passed. He repeated the process for the third and final reading by title only. Each time, between votes, he opened the floor to comments or discussion.
Tharp repeated the procedure with the resolution, which also passed.
The actions increased the mayor's salary from $12,000 per year to $20,000 per year, the city clerk/recorder from $3,000 per year to $3,600, and the council members from $100 per month to $200 per month (with the special meeting pay increasing from $50 to $100 for council members). The changes will go into effect in January of 2016.
The ordinance included an emergency clause, which also passed. Tharp wanted the increase approved in time to place the new salaries and pay into the 2016 budget which will be set in December.
The question of an executive session arose when the mayor and city reporter left the room, leaving the council in regular session. A number of members of the public also left the room for various reasons. But no executive session was ever called for or voted on by the council.
City recorder Kim Wilkins mistakenly recorded that the council went into executive session in the September minutes when no such action took place.
The Decatur City Council very rarely uses executive sessions. These sessions can only be used when a governing body needs to discuss matters of hiring, firing and disciplinary action of an employee -- a criteria the the ordinance and resolution did not meet.
Tharp said he will take corrective action to change this mistake by calling for an amendment to the September minutes during the Nov. 9 meeting.
General News on 10/28/2015