After initially recusing himself from the discussion, Vice Mayor Joseph Mickens broke a tie vote Tuesday to pay himself an extra $200 a day to fill in for the mayor this week.
That’s in addition to his pay to represent Ward 2 as councilman, which is set at $26,200 annually.
Mickens presided over Tuesday’s city council meeting at the Municipal Complex in Mayor Keith Gaskin’s absence and will perform all the duties of the city’s chief executive through Friday.
Gaskin is in New York to participate in a special session of the Mayors’ Institute on City Design hosted by New York University’s Schack Institute of Real Estate and the NYU Urban Lab, per a press release his office sent last week. His flight there coincided with the council meeting.
MIDC is covering Gaskin’s costs to attend.
Quickly into Tuesday’s meeting, Ward 5 Councilman Stephen Jones asked about the vice mayor’s compensation when covering for the mayor. City Attorney Jeff Turnage explained the city’s charter doesn’t specify an amount, instead leaving it to the council’s discretion to set the rate.
“He takes on all the duties of the mayor, is that correct?” Jones asked.
Turnage confirmed.
As Jones began lobbying to set a rate equal to the mayor’s daily pay, Human Resources Director Pat Mitchell said the city had paid the vice mayor an extra $40 per day in the past — most recently in 2021 when then-Vice Mayor Bill Gavin served eight weeks in place of Robert Smith, who was recovering from an undisclosed illness.
Ward 3 Councilman Rusty Greene moved to set the rate at $40 per day, which drew a substitute motion from Ward 1 Councilwoman Ethel Stewart to pay the vice mayor $200 per day.
Jones then moved to pay Mickens an extra $300 per day.
At that point, Mickens recused himself from further discussion.
“Whatever you guys come up with will be satisfactory with me,” Mickens said, before leaving the boardroom.
Jones’ motion then died without a second, bringing Stewart’s motion for $200 per day back to the floor.
Following a second from Jones, the vote deadlocked at 2-2, with Greene and Ward 6 Councilwoman Jacqueline DiCicco opposing. Pierre Beard, who represents Ward 4, was absent.
“Mr. Mickens recused himself, but I think the law is pretty clear the council has the right to vote itself a pay raise,” Turnage said, before retrieving Mickens to come break the tie.
Mickens returned and asked Turnage, “Where they got me at, counselor?”
Turnage explained the split vote on $200 a day.
“You did recuse yourself, which is honorable, but in the past the mayor and council have always had the right to vote on what the rate of their compensation is,” Turnage added. “So, if you want to break the tie, I don’t see any ethical prohibition to that.”
Mickens mulled the number briefly and voted.
“So moved. I’ll take that,” he said.
The mayor’s annual salary is $93,000. That’s a daily rate of $254.79 over 365 days.
The Dispatch reached Gaskin shortly after his plane landed in New York Tuesday night. He wasn’t aware he needed someone to fill in for him since he isn’t incapacitated.
“I’m surprised to learn this decision was made,” he wrote in a text to The Dispatch. “No one discussed it with me before I left. I would think a decision like this would be made if a mayor was sick and not working. I will be functioning as mayor while I’m attending the Mayors’ Institute on City Design.”
Firing guns inside city limits
The council Tuesday also stiffened the penalties for illegally firing a gun in the city limits.
It set the mandatory penalty at a $1,000 fine or six months in jail, the maximum state law allows for misdemeanor offenses. The previous ordinance left the fine at the municipal judge’s discretion, and those fines are typically $413 per incident, Assistant Police Chief Garland Ward told the council last month.
The new ordinance also gives police the authority to seize weapons used in those acts. Turnage said the only way the city would return the weapon is if the suspect is acquitted.
“I think it’s going to be a big deterrent,” Police Chief Joseph Daughtry told The Dispatch after the meeting. “… It needs to be known, if someone is in their backyard, and a wild animal or snake or something comes out, and they defend their wife or their children, we’re not talking about that. We’re talking about individuals who start shooting in the air and shooting recklessly.”
Those instances, Daughtry noted, are increasing.
“We have a certain small group of individuals in the city who are targeting each other,” he said. “They are following each other. So when they see each other, it’s like it’s on on-sight. Normally, we find when we arrest certain people, it stops. So, we’re going to be leaning on our judges to try to help us … put these guys away for a while to try to stop this.”
Daughtry said the law won’t look kindly on family members who help shooters evade capture.
“If mothers or fathers are hiding these guns or taking up for them, we’re going to put the mamas and daddies in jail for accessory,” he said.
Turnage noted exemptions to the ordinance include firing a weapon in self defense under the Castle Doctrine. Also, hunting is permitted on property of certain sizes if it has been annexed into the city after September 1981 and if the projectile doesn’t leave the property.
Per state law, a shotgun, air rifle, BB gun or bow and arrow can be discharged on property of at least 10 acres. Rifles, pistols and muzzleloaders can be discharged legally on properties of at least 50 acres.
Zack Plair is the managing editor for The Dispatch.
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