By Andrew Walsh
awalsh@wbcowqel.com

In April of 2013, the outgoing Galion administration set the salary schedule for the new contingent that would be setting up shop under the mayoral system. One of the numbers that was impossible to miss in this schedule was the $19,290 salary for the incoming mayor.

Tom Fellner certainly did not miss it, as he called it “ridiculous” and “insulting” at the time.

At Tuesday night’s meeting, that salary schedule came before council again, as its original language had it set to expire when 2013 become 2014. This need to extend the timeline of these salaries gave the finance committee meeting a chance to review the compensation that had been established.

In revisions passed unanimously by the finance committee, the mayor’s salary was set to be doubled to $38,580, and he (or she in the future) would be entitled to buy in to the city’s health insurance plan by picking up 15% of the premium.  The other salaries and benefits packages, the auditor and the law director being entitled to also buy in to the health insurance plan, were set to remain the same.

There was a great deal of discussion about whether this raise was money well spent. Shirley Clark, in particular, was against the raise.

“With the situation we are in I have a hard time justifying it,” Clark said.

Various ideas were kicked around, such as providing a raise, but not such a large one. Another was not providing a raise, but extending the ability to buy into the insurance plan.

Current Mayor Tom O’Leary added that there was, “No need to change for me, it’s not necessary from my perspective.”

Auditor Brian Treisch provided some context by stating that while the City is in fiscal emergency, it is not fiscally broke, ”We can do this raise if we want.”

It was eventually decided that the salary schedule would remain exactly as is. No raise for the mayor and no benefits package. The insurance plans would remain available to the auditor and law director, although current law director Roberta Wade has declined hers.

The city is on a deadline to pass this so the salaries do not expire, and need to suspend the rules to meet this deadline. At the July 23 meeting they did not have the required number of votes to suspend the rules, as Tom Fellner and Matthew Strickler were absent. Fellner was absent due to the birth of a new grandchild, and Strickler was recalled to active duty. A special meeting has been set for July 30 to vote on this issue.

After another round of lengthy discussion, the resolution to contact the Ohio Attorney General’s office regarding the Prairie State Take-or-Pay contract passed on a third reading. Don Faulds has been in contact with the office already, seeking guidance as to the proper procedure for such a letter, and is waiting to hear back from them.

Roberta Wade was vocal in her support for this measure, calling it, “a very appropriate way for the city to get a hold of its state government,” and further called the attorney general’s office the, “watchdog” for Ohio municipalities.

As is to be expected with anything involving AMP and Prairie State, viewpoints came from many different angles. There was both support for the resolution, and trepidation at spurring on a potential investigation. Galion is the only community of its like in Ohio to have so far taken such official measures, although other constituent communities in different states have done so.

O’Leary also offered the viewpoint that when the City committed to Prairie State, the risks of this project were not held in secret. He cited the RW Beck study and the Resolutions passed at the time.

“I’m not sure how Prairie State is culpable that previous council decided to buy 10 megawatt hours,” O’Leary said. “I’m upset at the decisions that were made by previous council, not AMP.”

The “what could it hurt” argument ended up carrying the day. It was deemed harmless enough that all they were doing was ask the attorney general to check into things, and if nothing came back, nothing came back. The resolution passed.

The executive session to discuss imminent domain litigation was postponed, as council wanted to have the discussion with all members present.