Moses Lake council approves meeting payments

Measure impacts incoming members

MOSES LAKE — Two new faces join the Moses Lake City Council next week, and they will be among the first to be paid for attending additional meetings on city business.

After a series of discussions and several votes on the issue, council members voted Tuesday night to approve a $30 meeting allocation for members who represent the city on countywide boards and commissions.

The vote was brought after Councilman Dick Deane brought forth a measure to increase the monthly allocation council members receive. Deane proposed the meting allocation as part of a plan to also increase the monthly compensation for council members to $450 from $300.

Deane told the council his proposal wasn't out of greed, but rather to say that while the post is a position of pride, it is also a position of obligation in a city. The majority of council members did not see the need to raise the monthly stipend above $300 but did vote 4-3 to approve the $30 allocation.

Deane served on the Parks and Recreation Commission for 15 years and said he did that with great pleasure and without compensation. But he said the decisions he makes as a councilman impact a greater number of people than the ones he made on the Parks and Recreation Commission.

"When I make a decision I find it effects me and my family and everyone in this city," Deane said. "No, it will not make you wealthy, but it will show respect for the position that you hold."

Deane will not see $30 for additional scheduled meetings he attends unless he serves another term on the council. The measure only impacts incoming councilmen Bill Ecret and Jim Liebrecht, as well as councilmen Ron Covey and Brent Reese who are starting new terms Jan. 1.

City Manager Joe Gavinski said after the meeting the $30 allocation would be paid for attending meetings of boards like the health district and disability board. It was not immediately clear if the $30 would impact the two regularly scheduled council meetings members attend each month.

Deane said a few younger people should be sitting at the council table. By raising the monthly council stipend, those people who are currently raising families might have more of an incentive to take part.

But Councilman Richard Pearce initially favored tabling the measure for study until 2007, when names would not be attached to the increases.

"If they're going to come on here because we're paying them so good," Councilman Richard Pearce said, "they're coming on for the wrong reason."

Mayor Ron Covey told the council he receives numerous calls for attendance at meetings he cannot always attend, often asking other council members to take his place. Covey said a meeting allocation would be a good incentive, but disagreed with the idea of raising the council's monthly stipend.

"I'm uncomfortable with raising that," Covey said. "The intent of the law was not to vote yourself a raise."

Councilman Steve Shinn was attending his last meeting and said he understood council members are appointed to serve on other countywide commissions, but said those assignments are part of the job.

"I agree that the ordinance should be looked at, but I do think that we're rushing through this thing," fellow outgoing Councilman Lee Blackwell said, "I would certainly not be in favor of voting for this thing, even if I weren't leaving."

Deane asked the councilmen to pull the names and faces off the table, and likened the increase to platting property.

"You don't know who's going to move into the house, but you know the house is going to be built," he said.

Covey, Deane, Brent Reese and Jon Lane voted in favor of adding the $30 allocation, with councilmen Pearce, Blackwell and Shinn voting against it. The vote would have required a second reading after the new council was seated, and effectively delaying the allocation for another two years.

This led the council to again bring up the proposal later in the meeting and pass it on an emergency reading, only amending the date the measure would take effect. Pearce changed his vote in favor of the date change, giving the council the two-thirds majority needed to pass the vote on a single reading.