Simmesport Council changes how monthly pay is determined

On a 3-2 vote at its May 18 meeting, the Simmesport Town Council members changed the way their monthly pay is determined. Citizens opposed to the change have said it was a way to give the elected officials a pay raise while those supporting the pay ordinance said it is not a raise because all officials will be receiving the same amount they have received for the past 3 1/2 years.

Under the new pay plan, the five aldermen's monthly pay is now $450 a month. It was $300 a month with another $150 if the council had at least one special meeting during the month. For at least the last three years, the council has had a special meeting every month. Mayor Leslie Draper III will receive $2,250 a month. His pay had been $1,500 a month with another $750 paid if there was a special meeting. The mayor is responsible for deciding whether there is a need for a special meeting.

Councilmen Kenneth Marsh and Ted Turner voted against the change .Councilmen Sherman Bell, Presley Bordelon and Myron Brown voted in favor. When the ordinance was introduced in April, Marsh said he remembered when the aldermen's pay was raised from $250 to $300 in 2007 because he voted against the increase.

UNSIGNED ORDINANCE

It was noted during discussion on the pay ordinance that an ordinance in the record books for 2007 setting the council members' pay at $300 was never signed. It was the lack of a signed ordinance that led to the introduction of this ordinance in April. It was necessary to bring the town into compliance with state law that requires the mayor and aldermen's pay be set by ordinance, council members were told.

Town Attorney Kirk LaCour said he would not advise the council members on what amount they should set for their pay, but would recommend the town do away with the extra pay for extra meetings method of compensation.

The "flat rate" pay method "simply simplifies things," LaCour said.

LaCour said the Legislative Auditor's investigators brought the lack of a pay-setting ordinance to the town's attention during their work at Town Hall earlier this year.

A question from a viewer of the Facebook-streamed meeting asked about Draper's pay, which was set in January 2017 when he took office. Draper's base salary of $1,500 a month would be $18,000 a year. With the extra $750 a month for special meetings, his annual salary was $27,000.

Previous mayor Eric Rusk earned between $9,849 to $12,750 in the six years prior to the start of Draper's administration. That amount includes base pay and extra pay for special meetings.

Draper said the increase in pay is justified because he is Simmesport's first official full-time mayor. It is unknown whether that action in January 2017 is also included in the Legislative Auditor's comments that its investigators could not find a signed ordinance setting the elected officials' pay.

During discussion it was noted that long-time Mayor Leo Ehrhardt, who served as mayor 40 years between 1940 and 1992, may not have been classified as "full-time" but was always on the job and accessible.The same was said about former mayors Boo Fontenot and Craig Couvillon.

ARMED WITH MINUTES

Draper came to the meeting armed with a stack of minutes dating back to the early part of the 21st Century to support his contention that his administration has not had more special meetings than past administrations. One critic of the mayor and council noted after the meeting that he finds it interesting that when town officials are asked a question they don't want to answer, the documents were destroyed by a previous administration. However, he continued, documents that seem to support the officials' arguments can be found with no problem.

Aldermen can raise the pay of elected officials as many times as they want to during the course of an election term. However, once set, the pay cannot be reduced during the term of that elected offi-cial.

Even when a majority of aldermen decide a salary reduction is in order, it is not easy to take away something that has been given. The Mansura Town Council can attest to that.

In June 2018 that council voted 3-2 to reduce the mayor's salary, effective with the beginning of the next elected term in 2019, only to have the mayor veto the ordinance. Those council members were unable to convince one of their colleagues to join them for the 4-1 vote needed to override the mayor's veto in July -- the last opportunity before qualifying for municipal elections that year.

With municipal elections coming up in November and qualifying for those offices July 22-24 -- and given a past Attorney General's opinion saying the prohibition of reducing a position's pay starts at the time of qualifying for that position -- the new monthly salaries cannot be reduced until the terms that begin in January 2025.

Prior to the adoption of the ordinance, there were questions as to why Simmesport seemed to require two meetings a month when larger municipalities could handle business in one regular monthly meeting.

Now the question being asked is whether there will be fewer meetings each month now that there will be no extra pay for special meetings.