No raises for council members after all

SCOTT TRUXELL/independent editor

The months long saga of pay raises for members of Van Wert Council took an unexpected turn, then came to an abrupt end Monday night.

Two weeks after council members voted 5-0 on emergency legislation, with two abstentions, to increase salaries by $600 effective with the new term that begins on January 1, a new development came to light which led to the decision by council to drop the matter entirely.

Law Director John Hatcher said he received a different opinion from the Ohio Ethics Commision on procedure, the timeline and ethics than the one he provided city council last month (see related story here). Hatcher said the latest opinion led him to believe the salary increase legislation should have had three readings and three votes.

He suggested council members to reconsider the legislation and bring it back for three separate votes but then noted that hypothetically that if voted on after the November 7 election, only one council member might have been eligible to vote on it – Second Ward Councilman David Stinnett, who’s not seeking re-election, and was not present at Tuesday’s meeting. The remaining six members hypothetically would have had to abstain on the final vote in late November, post-election.

“It’s frustrating that it’s gotten to this point,” Fourth Ward Councilman Andrew Davis said.

At one point in the discussion, Mayor Ken Markward suggested reconfigured legislation with $300 raises, but First Ward Councilman Jeff Agler suggested council members forget it and move on, a suggestion quickly seconded by Councilman At-Large Jeff Kallas.

“I agree, we’ve taken up so much time with this already,” Kallas said. “It should never have been this complicated. Let’s just move on.”

City Auditor Martha Balyeat chimed in with a stern message and said none of this would have happened if council would have handled the process earlier in the year.

“Council is the ones that chose to wait so long,” she said. “If you would have done this earlier in the year it probably would have passed. You wouldn’t have run into the time frame definitely…if this would have happened in January or February it would have passed and been done.”

After that, Agler made a motion to reconsider the previous salary increase legislation and drop it altogether, a motion that was approved.

Afterward, Hatcher termed it “an incredibly awkward situation.”

The decision means annual salaries will remain at $4,900 for ward and at-large council members, and from $5,500 for the council president for the next two-year term, 2024-2025.