At its Tuesday night meeting the Columbus City Council revisited multiple recurring issues regarding employee pay and hired a consultant for American Rescue Plan Act spending.
Ward 3 Councilman Rusty Greene made a motion to increase the salary for the new COO from $85,000 to $120,000 a year.
The city has been without a full-time COO since the retirement of David Armstrong, who held the post since 2006, in June. Earlier this year the council voted to wait until after the city elections to begin the search for a replacement, and, after the Keith Gaskin administration took office, the role has been filled on an interim basis by Mark Alexander, Jr.
The application period for the COO position — as well as the chief financial officer and information technology director, both of which are also vacant — closed Dec. 3. There were 32 applicants for the COO position, 38 for CFO and 26 for the IT director. A committee was formed to review applications. Ward 1 Councilwoman Ethel Taylor Stewart, Greene, Ward 4 Councilman Pierre Beard, Ward 6 Councilwoman Jacqueline DiCicco, Gaskin and Human Resources Director Pat Mitchell are all on the committee.
Greene asked that the city bump up the pay to make the position more enticing.
“We will not make a bigger decision of how the city goes forward in the next four years (than the COO),” he said. “I want to raise the salary for the incoming COO to attract the most qualified people.”
Greene made a motion, and was seconded by Ward 2 Councilman Joseph Mickens.
Jones and Stewart pushed back, arguing that the council needed to let the hiring committee make those calls.
The committee “hasn’t even met to determine if we need these raises or not,” Jones said. “We’re just raising it before we look at the applications or anything?”
“We agreed we would have a committee, and the committee needs to meet and have this discussion,” Stewart said. “Looking at what you’re proposing here, we’re going to bring people in who are making more than the mayor. We agreed to have a committee, and why would you have a committee if we’re going to do something that’s not agreed upon by the committee?”
“That’s fair,” Greene said, and withdrew his motion.
Stewart suggested the committee meet the week after Christmas, and Mitchell said she would schedule a meeting.
Mickens tries for bonuses
Mickens asked the council to consider using federal CARES Act funds to give city employees bonuses.
The council has struggled several times with the issue of giving city workers bonuses for working during the pandemic. Beard has asked several times over a period of months to use ARPA money for that purpose, but each time has been shot down by City Attorney Jeff Turnage, who has argued that it is a violation of the state constitution to give bonuses.
Tuesday night Mickens brought up Gov. Tate Reeves’ decision to use the $553,695 in CARES Act money the state received to give bonuses to state law enforcement officers.
“It was in the Bible where the eunuch was walking with Philip and asked what hinders you from baptising me in this pool of water,” Mickens said. “I want to know what hinders us from doing what Mr. Reeves did in Jackson?”
“What we have now is a case where our governor says you can pay bonus pay for law enforcement, but on the other hand our state auditor just made a demand on Leflore County supervisors to make a bonus payment,” Turnage said.
He said he “can’t answer” how the governor can give a bonus when “the state auditor, the attorney general and the constitution say they are unlawful.”
“I don’t understand it, I’ll just be honest with you,” Turnage said. “…I still can’t recommend across-the-board bonuses.”
Beard asked what Turnage would recommend. Turnage suggested incentive pay for future work.
Jones made a motion, seconded by Stewart, to ask Turnage to come back at the next work session with a list of recommendations for how the money could be used. The motion passed unanimously.
ARPA consultant
The council voted to hire Waggoner Engineering as its ARPA consulting firm.
ARPA funds may be used for public health response to the pandemic, offsetting negative economic impacts, public housing assistance, public sector revenue loss, premium pay for essential workers and water, sewer and broadband infrastructure. Funds must be committed by Dec. 31, 2024 and spent by Dec. 31, 2026.
In November two firms — Neel-Schaffer Engineering and Waggoner Engineering — made presentations to the council about their ARPA consulting services. The Horne Group threw its hat in the ring during a Dec. 3 work session.
Tuesday night Greene motioned, seconded by DiCicco, to hire Waggoner. Stewart immediately made a substitute motion, seconded by Beard, to hire Neel-Schaffer. Stewart’s motion failed 4-2, with Stewart and Beard voting yes and Mickens, Greene, Jones and DiCicco voting no. Greene’s motion then passed 4-2, with Mickens, Greene, Jones and DiCicco voting yes and Stewart and Beard voting no.
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 41 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.