{"id":169918,"date":"2023-09-07T09:18:57","date_gmt":"2023-09-07T14:18:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/?p=169918"},"modified":"2023-09-08T03:49:46","modified_gmt":"2023-09-08T08:49:46","slug":"169918","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/2023\/09\/07\/169918\/","title":{"rendered":"Council to decide on revised pay raises"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

SCOTT TRUXELL\/<\/strong>independent editor<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

If Wednesday\u2019s special meeting was any indication, it appears members of Van Wert City Council will see an increase in pay, effective in January of 2024.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During the \u201cCouncil of the Whole\u201d meeting, council members seemed to be in agreement with new salaries of $5,500 annually and $6,100 for the council president, which is $600 more than the current salaries, but less than the previously approved salaries of $6,100 and $6,700. Those salaries were vetoed last month<\/a> by Mayor Ken Markward, who also recommended a pay decrease.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Van Wert City Council held a special meeting Wednesday to discuss the mayor’s recent veto and possible revised raises. A vote and possible passage could come as soon as Monday night. VW independent file photo<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Council members scheduled the special meeting to discuss the veto and possible next steps. Fourth Ward Councilman Andrew Davis and Law Director John Hatcher outlined the possible courses of action by council:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  • Override the mayor\u2019s veto, with at least five votes needed to do that. <\/li>
  • Accept the mayor\u2019s recommendation to lower salaries to $3,000 for council members and $3,500 for the council president. <\/li>
  • Introduce and vote on a new piece of legislation, preferably before the early voting period begins for the November 7 general election. <\/li>
  • Do nothing and maintain the current rate of pay of $4,900 for ward and at-large members, and $5,500 for the council president.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n

    Second Ward Councilman David Stinnett, who isn\u2019t seeking re-election and has been a vocal opponent of the higher raises, said if council attempts to override the veto of $6,100 salaries, he would vote no, but said he would be comfortable with $5,500 salaries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

    Third Ward Councilwoman Julie Moore said the revised figure of $5,500 seems reasonable to her.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u201cThere\u2019s value in what we do and give and if we if we want someone to step up in the next term we have to be able to show them that you will be somewhat compensated for the time and effort and stuff,\u201d Moore said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Davis, along with At-Large Council members Judy Bowers, Jeff Kallas and Bill Marshall also agreed with $5,500 salaries. First Ward Councilman Jeff Agler, a supporter of $6,100 salaries, was absent from the meeting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    There was concern that the revised salaries could be vetoed again by Markward. The mayor was not present at the meeting, but he later said the situation is currently too hypothetical to make such a decision.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u201cAt the very least I will wait to see what actually gets voted on,\u201d he stated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    New legislation with the revised salaries is expected to be introduced at Monday night\u2019s regularly scheduled meeting and could be approved that night or during council\u2019s September 25 meeting.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    SCOTT TRUXELL\/independent editor If Wednesday\u2019s special meeting was any indication, it appears members of Van Wert City Council will see an increase in pay, effective in January of 2024. During the \u201cCouncil of the Whole\u201d meeting, council members seemed to be in agreement with new salaries of $5,500 annually and $6,100 for the council president, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-169918","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-08-01 10:45:31","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/169918","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=169918"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/169918\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":169976,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/169918\/revisions\/169976"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=169918"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=169918"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=169918"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}