Council OKs 3 proposals

One item abolishes council aides and passes the annual salaries to members.
By ROGER G. SMITH
CITY HALL REPORTER
YOUNGSTOWN -- Voters will be asked in November to consider three moves on the city charter: Eliminate one item, change another and establish a new provision.
Council voted during a brief special meeting Wednesday to put the three proposals on the ballot.
Voters will decide whether to abolish the eight-year term limits for the mayor and city council members, including the president, effective Jan. 1, 2007.
Experience is important and shouldn't be artificially eliminated, said Richard Atkinson, R-3rd, the senior council member. Voters can makes changes to council at the ballot box whenever they wish, he said.
Voters also will decide on a change that affects two things at once. The item would abolish council aide positions and pass the aide's annual salaries to members.
Now, aide jobs and the $27,800 annual salaries usually go to spouses or relatives of council members. Meanwhile, members receive $600 a year. If approved, the council president also would lose the aide but move from $900 in annual pay to $28,100.
The move rightly will eliminate a deceptive practice, Atkinson said.
"It's like we're hiding in the closet," he said.
The new item is to decide whether to require updating the city's comprehensive plan at least every 10 years, right after each U.S. Census.
The city has failed to update the plan for decades, so a charter change is needed to make sure that happens, Atkinson said.
The charter review commission is authorized to function through the end of this year. Chairman William M. Carter said he will talk with council and charter commission members about the future.
rgsmith@vindy.com