Mayor proposes larger, paid City Council
Published Jan. 19, 2007
Serving on the Columbia City Council might be a valuable experience for some members — but not financially.
Columbia's 58-year-old city charter provides for a seven-member City Council.
The council is made up of six members, who are elected from their respective wards, and the mayor is elected at-large.
Unfortunately for them, the charter specifically states members do not receive a salary. But Mayor Darwin Hindman proposed Jan. 5 to review the city charter to determine whether council members should receive a small salary and to consider increasing the size of the council in order to keep up with city growth.
"I think we have a government that works very well," Hindman said. "But after a certain amount of time, it pays to take a look at it. We need to see if we have a charter that conforms to modern city government."
Fifth Ward Councilwoman Laura Nauser said she agrees with the plan to review the charter.
"It has been quite a while since the charter has been reviewed and it's a good idea to be current," Nauser said. "I've been an advocate for some sort of stipend for council members for a couple of years. I'm glad the mayor brought it up. There's a big time commitment."
Nauser estimates that she spends roughly 15-25 hours a week working on city council business in addition to her other job. She said council members often pay for any materials necessary for them to perform their duties.
Nauser, for instance, prints off many documents for council business in her own home and bought a separate file cabinet to store all of her city council files. Council members are also invited to many events that require tickets or entrance fees, she said.
Fourth Ward Councilman Jim Loveless, who is stepping down from the council after the municipal election in April, said he agrees it's wrong for council members to have to pay for events.
"It displeases me that council people are expected to make contributions rather than being invited to events simply for their presence," Loveless said. "They should be supplemented. But then the city is paying for these events, and the city already provides money for many of these events."
Even so, Loveless said he does not support rewriting the charter to include salaries for council members.
"We have never lacked good, qualified council people," Loveless said. "To me, this says the system is not broken, so don't fix it. There are fine people willing to serve uncompensated."
But Hindman believes the lack of a salary could keep qualified people from running for for the job.
"I don't want to set it up in such a way that people would be attracted to the salary," he said. "But there are people who can't serve because it's too costly. There needs to be enough of a salary that it's not costing people to serve because, as it is, it's fairly expensive. There needs to be some way to keep it from being prohibitive to people."
Although Columbia has voted down propositions to pay council members four times between 1978 and 1992, Hindman plans to pursue his proposition if he is elected to a fifth term in April. But he does not know what the reaction will be from the other council members or his constituents.
"I'm hoping I can persuade (the council), but all I can do is say, 'This is what I would like to see done,'" Hindman said. "It's pretty much unfair the way it is now."