Marble Hill mayor, board at odds after raises

MARBLE HILL, Mo. -- The Marble Hill Board of Aldermen and Mayor Michael Sowers disagreed over the powers of a city employee, coming to loggerheads at the board's Monday meeting.

Board members wanted city attorney Alan Beussink to draw up an ordinance that will take away some of the city administrative assistant's responsibilities and give them instead to the board. They were upset to learn that city administrative assistant Tammy Whitney had raised the salaries in the upcoming fiscal year of some of the police and water and sewer employees. Whitney said the raises were justified because they were within the budget allowed for salaries and because the employees had not had a raise in several years.

Sowers accused the aldermen of wanting to change city laws to suit their whims.

Beussink said that according to the ordinances the board does have a say in giving salary increases, but only the administrative assistant has a say in who among the hourly employees is hired or fired and has jurisdiction over the salary schedule. If Whitney authorized raises for hourly employees and it fell within the budget constraints, Beussink said, then she has done nothing wrong.

The board voted to change that ordinance to show that Whitney and the police chief can make recommendations about whom to hire or fire but that the final decision will rest with the board.

Sowers and the aldermen argued over other issues at Monday's meeting, too. Most of the board's sometimes contentious discussions with Sowers centered on money and the way the city does business.

As the meeting began, Sowers admonished the board members for leaving their agendas and city reports, which become available on Fridays, in city hall until Monday. He asked that they read the material over the weekend and familiarize themselves with the issues they will be voting on, especially now that the city is facing a large water and sewer project. He also cautioned the board about revealing anything that was said in any closed session.

Sowers and Whitney each outlined ways the city has been cutting back on expenses and saving money. Whitney reported that the city has "made huge strides in overtime," found tools and fittings needed by the maintenance department at a reduce price from the state surplus and has found sources for buying supplies -- even toilet paper -- at a savings.

Alderwoman Beverly Johnson suggested that buying toilet paper and other supplies might be better done locally and at a lower cost, and that some items the city has been buying aren't necessary.

"We don't need to be buying you guys coffee and bottled water," she said.

"If we're dealing with a box of doughnuts and with a $1.7 million bond issue, and you're worried about the doughnuts you've got your focus wrong," Sowers said. "Tammy Whitney's job is oversight of the expenses, and I am sure she will notice any doughnuts."

Sowers challenged the board to stop doing things "the way you've done it for the last 15 years. The city administrative assistant should be entrusted to make her decisions. Not one of you can come close to what she has to do. You're not concentrating on what's important; you're worried about coffee."

The mayor and the board also clashed over whether or not police officers can take their patrol cars home with them, given that they're all on call 24 hours a day. There has been some concern over the cost of using the police vehicles for personal reasons, and Sowers said that police cars may be taken home because the vehicles have a crime-reducing affect just by their presence in a neighborhood. But he cautioned that only officers who live in the city limits could take their vehicles home, except for Police Chief Scott Shaffer who lives outside the city limits and because of his status as chief and his training in taking down meth labs, needs to have his vehicle with him at all times. Shaffer would be subject to the same limits of not using his vehicle for personal trips or for going home for lunch.

Alderman Tim McCain, who stated that he had not been in favor of Shaffer as police chief, claimed that he was also not in favor of letting Shaffer take the vehicle out of city limits to go home. He took it a step further and said, "If he is willing to be chief of police, he should be willing to live inside the city, or on the edge."

Pertinent address:

Marble Hill, MO