Struthers council overrides mayor’s salary ordinance veto

June 23, 2016 at 12:07a.m.

STRUTHERS

City council voted Wednesday to override Mayor Terry Stocker’s veto of an ordinance setting salaries for department heads.

Stocker vetoed the legislation earlier this month, arguing council unfairly distributed raises for department heads.

Under the 2016 salary ordinance, the street supervisor will earn $52,046, a $5,200 yearly increase. The salaries for the tax commissioner ($41,324), waste-treatment plant supervisor ($65,494), fire chief ($52,946), police chief ($52,946) and safety-service director ($52,389) will remain the same.

Council needed five votes to override the mayor’s veto. It voted 5-2 to do so Monday, with only Councilman-at-large James Kosek and 1st Ward Councilman Anthony Fire voting against the override.

Stocker suggested during caucus before the regular meeting Wednesday it would be “invalid” for council to override his veto because the agenda did not specifically note a proposed veto override and because, Stocker argued, council members did not explicitly state an intention to override the video in a previous public meeting.

Stocker suggested council risked violating Ohio’s open-meetings law.

Law Director Dominic Leone left caucus to review the section of state law Stocker noted. Leone returned within a half-hour and said he believed council could legally override the mayor’s veto because the vote would occur at a public meeting.

Councilman-at-large Michael Patrick said the veto override fell under the “unfinished business” section of the agenda and pointed out council often uses “unfinished business” for similar purposes.

Upon vetoing the ordinance, Stocker contended council had withheld raises to discipline employees.

Kosek agreed that council had overstepped its legislative bounds, saying, “Council acted as an administrator.”

Patrick countered, saying, “It’s council’s responsibility to set pay and pass a responsible budget.

“This ain’t a country club,” he added.

During a committee meeting last week, Councilman-at-large Joseph N. Rudzik asked why the lawmakers were rehashing the fairness of the ordinance, given that council passed the ordinance 7-0 in March after three readings.

“Shame on us as a body,” Rudzik said.

When council initially proposed raises in committee early this year, Fire said he believed it was unfair for council to “pick and choose” by giving raises to some and not others.

Fire agreed with the mayor’s proposal of raises for all department heads, pointing out that raises of $1,000 each would constitute less than 1 percent of the $10,321,850 2016 budget.

Fire, however, joined the rest of council in March to approve a salary ordinance granting a raise only to the street supervisor.

“I felt I should go along with the rest of council,” Fire said Wednesday of that vote. “I thought we needed to go together.”

Fire did not vote to override the mayor’s veto, indicating he had concerns about legality.

“I just want to make sure we do things right,” he said.