HomeMy WebLinkAbout2/4/2020 Item 9, Rosten
Wilbanks, Megan
From:Emily Rosten <
To:E-mail Council Website
Cc:Harmon, Heidi; BK Richard
Subject:Re: I would love to hear your thoughts and have your support at our
next council meeting 2/4 on Council Compensation
Heidi,
Being mayor is a more than full time job.
We would support the mayor receiving at least $7,500 a month. The mayor should be paid enough to
afford a decent home/apartment in the city.
We also support the council raises as suggested!
Feel free to publicly share our support and recommendation.
Best,
Emily Rosten and BK Richard
On Feb 3, 2020, at 12:04 AM, Harmon, Heidi <hharmon@slocity.org> wrote:
Good Morning SLO Family,
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I am reaching out to you today to share about an item we have
coming up on the council agenda this Tuesday 2/4. You are a
community member I have had the honor of collaborating with
over the last several years and I know you have witnessed the
time, attention and commitment it takes to be an elected official in
this community. I know you see how this role has grown and
changed over the last many years, and the high level of service
our community demands from city staff and elected officials. We
live in a special place that is bursting with opportunities for growth
and connected community engagement, and also faces significant
challenges that take thoughtful time and attention to meaningfully
address.
One of my personal passions in this role as Mayor has been to
inspire more people to get engaged in creating solutions in their
communities and specifically inspire our next generation of
leaders to run for office. We need thoughtful, creative, bold people
from all walks life to step into leadership, run for office and lead
our communities forward toward progress. One of the greatest
limiting factors to this in our community is compensation for these
elected positions.
This Tuesday 2/4 SLO City Council will be reviewing a
recommendation from the Council Compensation Committee
to increase wages for council and mayor positions. I am
reaching out to you to share my views on this important
move, and ask for your thoughts and participation.
As our City Charter calls for, an appointed Compensation
Committee comprised of community members and a past council
member met over the course of six months to form
recommendations. In January they voted unanimously to bring the
following recommendation to the council for a vote:
- Recommending a monthly increase for Mayor from $1725 to
$2508, which equates to $30,996 annually from $20,700. This is
63% of the median income, based on $48k.
- Recommending a monthly increase for Council Members from
$1224 to $1990, which equates to $23,880 annually from
$14,688. This is 50% of the median income, based on $48k.
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The Total annual increase comes out to $4000/month or
$47,064 annually with the current budget at $63 million. It is
about .025% of the annual budget. As a part of the review
process, the Committee examined Council compensation
information from nine (9) comparison cities, relevant statues from
general law cities and different methodologies around
compensation of elected officials. The recommendation was
based a percentage of the Area Median Income (AMI) relative to
approximate time spent on the role as estimated by previous
Council Members. For more depth, check out the staff report:
https://www.slocity.org/Home/ShowDocument?id=25014, Compen
sation is item number 9, and begins on page 169.
I view this as a very fair, measured recommendation that sets up
a just and equitable system for future leaders who enter
elected positions in the city of SLO. I believe in creating equity
and opportunity for people in our communities, which includes
being able to run for, and work in elected office. What kind of
community will we have if only people that can afford to be
elected officials are our representatives? It is a questions I hear
from members of our community over and over during my time in
office the past few years, and I think it's important to ask.
Together we have said yes to a future that fights for housing
options, homeless solutions, climate action, infrastructure and a
more community connection. And we are doing that together. And
doing this work well, requires opportunities for future leaders to be
able to fully lead and not be limited by access. These should be
opportunities open to all.
I feel sensitive and mindful to a concern that the timing
for adopting this recommendation is complicated, with the council
voting on their own salary and then having to run for office again,
and projects that the city is working on over the coming years that
require city funding as well. I hear these things and I honor this
truth. As a voting member on council I know first hand the ways
that timing matters when we look at projects and resolutions and
adopting policy. And with that knowledge, I see compensation
adjustments as something that will always have reasons that the
timing isn't right, councils before us have struggled over this very
thing. But I ran for office to do the right thing, and my commitment
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has always been to the next generation, not the next election. And
for that reason, I believe this is the timing and the right thing to do.
To me this vote, is a vote on values. Not just how we value our
elected officials, but how we value our community. I believe we
are a community that wants to do big work, that values our worth
as neighbors and forward thinkers, innovators, entrepreneurs,
builders, environmentalists, educators and families. And I believe
we need to values our community enough to give value to those
who lead us in elected office- to assure this is a job done right.
I would love to hear your thoughts and I would love to have your
support at our next council meeting 2/4 at 6pm. Here is
the agenda, and to email all of city council with your thoughts you
can use this address, emailcouncil@slocity.org.
Thank you for your time, consideration and thought on this. And
mostly, thank you for caring about what it takes to support strong
leaders who will keep our communities thriving and moving
forward.
To a Better World, Heidi
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