Patterson mayor may get pay hike

The City Council moved forward Tuesday with plans to increase the mayor’s salary to bring it closer to the salaries of mayors in comparable, surrounding communities, council members said.
The council amended the agenda and introduced an ordinance to increase the mayor’s salary and benefits. The mayor currently has an annual salary of $20,000 without additional benefits, Mayor Rodney Grogan said.
The council proposed increasing the mayor’s base salary to $35,400 annually, a $6,000 travel allowance and a $600 cell phone allowance for a total annual benefits package of $42,000.
The council did not discuss a date for when the ordinance would go into effect, if adopted. City Attorney Russel Cremaldi said this morning that the council will have to set a date at the Jan. 5 council meeting for when the ordinance would go into effect.
The ordinance will go through a public hearing at the Jan. 5 meeting and then be available for adoption, Cremaldi said. The ordinance could go into effect at whatever date the council sets for it so long as the date is not retroactive, Cremaldi said. “They can’t pass it in January (2015) and say this is effective October 2014,” Cremaldi said. “It cannot go into effect sooner than when it is passed.”
Councilman Joe Russo referenced the fact that Berwick’s mayor receives a $36,000 annual salary and the Jeanerette mayor makes $45,000, both in part-time positions, he said. Russo believes the mayor of Patterson should be a full-time position and compensated accordingly, he said.
Councilman Larry Mendoza said the mayor and all council members are already full-time because they get calls and get approached many times on nights and weekends.
Cremaldi said he doubts that the council has the authority to tell the mayor when he has to be at the office and what he has to do at what time. “The mayor has responsibilities set forth in the charter and the ordinances, and he’s got to fulfill those duties whether it takes him three hours a day or if it takes him 13 hours a day,” Cremaldi said.
Grogan said, “The actual direction in which the city is taking right now, it requires the mayor to be available much more than in the past.” The mayor’s job requires him to attend meetings during the day, Grogan said.
Grogan asked the council, “If the Berwick mayor is part-time, and he’s making $36,000, and if the Baldwin mayor is making $36,000, why can’t I be brought up to $36,000?” The City of Patterson is moving forward at a much faster pace than both Berwick and Baldwin, Grogan said.
Grogan also asked for an additional $500 monthly allowance for travel to bring the total salary and benefits to $42,000, he said.
The City Charter gives the council the ability to decrease the mayor’s salary in a subsequent term if the council determines that the mayor is not deserving of the salary, Grogan said.
From Cremaldi’s perspective as city attorney, things have gotten much more complicated than they used to be, he said.
Councilwoman Sandra Turner said though she believes Grogan will work well as a full-time mayor, the council does not know what future mayors would do.
“Your point is exactly right,” Cremaldi said. “What you’re setting is not the salary of Mayor Grogan. You’re setting a salary for future people who want to run for mayor and future people who want to serve as mayor are going to have to consider.”
However, if a mayor is not doing what he is supposed to do under the City Charter, the council has a duty to approach the mayor about a matter such as that one, Cremaldi said.
After the ordinance was introduced, Police Chief Patrick LaSalle said a starting police officer only makes $21,000 a year and risks his life every day. LaSalle hopes that the council passes on the generosity that it showed the mayor to the police department, he said.
“I hope that this term the council members, the mayor will visit with me or at least communicate with me so I can let you know what’s happening on a monthly basis,” LaSalle said. “There’s some council members that I haven’t spoken to since they’ve been on the council.”
LaSalle asked each council member and the mayor to meet with him this week individually, he said. LaSalle discussed the 25 drug arrests police made Monday with the help of other agencies and said the department has about 75 warrants it is waiting to pursue, he said. “The only thing that stopped us is that we don’t have any more jail space,” LaSalle said.
“Designer drugs are killing children left and right,” LaSalle said. LaSalle has not received one call from one person in a position of authority within the city to ask what could be done to assist the department with the drug problem, he said.
In other business, the council
—Approved to renew a contract with Cajun Mosquito Control at a price of $58,800 annually for two years.
—Approved a resolution to declare surplus items.
—Voted to table renewal of a Cox Service Agreement and TechePulse LLC contract.