Parkersburg City Council pay proposal highlights attendance
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PARKERSBURG -- A proposal to tie a portion of Parkersburg City Council members' pay to attendance at regular and special meetings has shined a light on attendance numbers.
During a Finance Committee meeting Thursday, members debated an ordinance that would keep council's base pay at $6,000 a year but add $125 per regular or special meeting attended, not to exceed $3,000 more a year. It was referred to the full council on a 3-2 vote and will be on the agenda for Tuesday's 7:30 p.m. meeting.
Council President Mike Reynolds unsuccessfully proposed basing members' full pay on meeting attendance, with $354 per regular meeting attended in person and $177 for meetings attended electronically. That would give someone who attends all 24 regular meetings $8,496 before taxes, with the council president getting a total of $9,000 for perfect attendance.
Council members are also eligible for health insurance through the city.
Reynolds said during the meeting there has been "a real problem with attendance." He did not mention any names but said it did not involve anybody in the executive conference room for the meeting.
Besides the five members of the committee -- Reynolds, Chairman Zach Stanley, Councilwoman Sharon Kuhl and Councilmen J.R. Carpenter and Chris Rexroad -- Councilwomen Wendy Tuck and Cathy Dailey were also at the meeting. Council members are not required to attend the meetings of committee of which they are not a part but some do.
Not in attendance was Councilwoman Jesse Cottrille, who, according to a review of council meeting minutes and past articles about meetings, has missed 15 of the 21 regular council meetings in 2024.
"In the last year, I have sadly had to miss more meetings than desired due to a career path change which requires traveling," Cottrille said in a message Friday.
She said she didn't miss meetings "due to unwillingness to support my district" but had to on occasion "choose my career over civil service."
"I have a family as (do) the majority of the people who live in my district, and I was raised you put your family before all," Cottrille said.
Cottrille supports the proposed increase in council members' pay, which she will not receive as she did not run for another term.
"Council and mayor can only receive a pay raise once every four years, and neither (of those) jobs are easy at times, and cost of living goes up regardless of (the) job title you may hold in a city," she said.
The other member not present Thursday was Councilman Bob Mercer, who has missed five meetings in 2024.
"Most of the times that I missed were when I was still working before I retired" as a 911 dispatcher, he said, noting it is sometimes hard to get coverage for such a shift.
Mercer said he was not at the Nov. 12 meeting because of an injury.
"I'm not going to show up when I'm sick," he said. "It's not taking a day off to go play."
Mercer, who did not run for re-election, said he has three council meetings left and plans to be at all of them.
Mercer had the third highest number of absences, behind Rexroad's six.
Rexroad said Friday that he thought the concern among members Thursday was more about consecutive absences. He said at least two of his absences were due to attending his daughter's athletic events in her senior year.
"I wasn't going to throw stones at anybody," he said.
Rexroad voted against referring the change in council pay, but not, he said, due to the additional money being tied to attendance.
"I'm just not going to vote for a pay raise for council, regardless," he said.
Carpenter, who's had two absences this year and also voted against referring the ordinance, said he had no problem with the "pay-for-performance" aspect of the proposal but said another approach might be to change council's rules. The charter allows for a seat to be declared vacant if a member misses five consecutive meetings without official approval of council expressed in the minutes. Cottrille missed five meetings in a row from July to August.
Kuhl, who is the only member not to miss a meeting this year, said Thursday that it was a shame they had to have this discussion.
"I think they're robbing from the taxpayers of the city ... because they're not doing their duties," she said, without specifying any member or members.
Kuhl said there were some meetings where they didn't know if they would have a quorum.
Five members of council constitute a quorum, without which a meeting cannot be called to order. A review of attendance shows four meetings this year with six members present, eight with seven members, six with eight and three with all nine.
Among other council members, Stanley had three absences and Tuck, Reynolds and Dailey had one each.
Evan Bevins can be reached at ebevins@newsandsentinel.com
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On the Agenda
Parkersburg City Council will meet at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday in council chambers on the second floor of the Municipal Building. The agenda includes:
* A resolution revising the budget to move $27,888 to cover proposed pay raises for elected officials for the remainder of the fiscal year.
* The final reading of an ordinance vacating an unnamed alley between Jackson Avenue and Eighth Street and a 170-foot portion of Jackson Avenue.
* The final reading of an ordinance vacating an unnamed alley next to North End Church of Christ at 1301 West Virginia Ave.
* The first reading of an ordinance establishing the mayor's annual salary at $110,000.
* The first reading of an ordinance establishing council's compensation as $6,000 a year, plus $125 per regular or special meeting attended, not to exceed $3,000 annually.
* The first reading of an ordinance authorizing the finance director to conduct an online auction.
* The first reading of an ordinance amending city code related to electrical work.
Council will meet as the Urban Renewal Authority following the council meeting.