Friday, April 20, 2001
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Friday, April 20, 2001 |
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Council ponders term changes By JOHN
THOMPSON
Senoia officials will soon be deciding on whether to raise salaries for elected officials and changing their terms to four years. City officials have looked at the merits of raising salaries for the mayor and City Council for the last two months. Currently, the mayor makes $500 a month, while councilmen make $100 a month. Councilmen Pam Youngblood and Darren Ratajski surveyed other governments in the area and found a wide spectrum of salaries. For example, the mayor of Fairburn, which is significantly larger than Senoia, makes $1,000 a year, but Youngblood added the city has a city manager who manages most of the daily operations of the city. Mayor Joan Trammell said whether the salary is increased will not affect her decision on whether she will run again in the fall, adding that it almost comes down to a question of philosophy. For the last couple of years, Trammell has put in more than 40 hours a week trying the get the city's sewage project underway. If the citizens want a mayor who's at City Hall all during the week, they're probably going to have to increase the salary, since Trammell said $500 a month is quite a financial hardship. On the length of terms, all the councilmen seemed in favor of moving to four-year terms. The issue would have to be changed in the city's charter and brought to the General Assembly next year. Trammell said she planns to talk about the issue with Rep. John Yates and report back to the council. She also asked the members to think about the issue and be prepared for further discussion in May.
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