Two suggested Arlington charter amendment proposals, one involving mayor and city council pay and the other the use of male-only language in the charter, will not move forward for more discussion.
The council decided Tuesday afternoon to abandon the discussions after a meeting Nov. 12.
District 8 council member Barbara Odom-Wesley suggested proposing the changes to voters in an upcoming charter amendment election.
Members in opposition said they worried both changes would create trouble for efforts to make other amendments that align the charter with state law, as well as an upcoming bond election.
Council and mayor pay
The monthly pay rate of $200 for council members and $250 for the mayor were set in 1980 and haven’t been changed since. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, those amounts in 1980 would have the same buying power today as $811 and $1,014, respectively.
The current pay comes out to $2,400 annually for council members and $3,000 a year for the mayor.
Odom-Wesley said during both meetings that the current pay creates a cost barrier to residents who would otherwise run for council and could bring valuable insight if elected.
“I think it’s out of date, antiquated, I think it limits our council pool for people who may want to serve on council,” Odom-Wesley told other council members Tuesday. “I don’t think we should come with a replacement wage for someone who is in the workforce but I certainly don’t think they should be out at a disadvantage.”
The proposed change would have taken the specific amount the council is paid out of the charter and instead make it a decision in the city’s budget.
Mayor Jim Ross and council members opposed to altering council pay agreed with those in favor that being an elected official in Arlington is a full-time job, but several said they think it should be a volunteer position.
Andrew Piel, the council member for District 4, said being financially independent is a qualification for being on the council because of the low pay and he thinks that’s a good thing.
Piel said the bar to be a city council member in Arlington is very high.
“It requires a massive amount of sacrifice of time and of money. It also requires a minimum amount of financial independence that is earned through hard work and experience that toughens you up and provides you with some understanding of how important it is to be successful and how careful you have to be with money,” Piel said.
He said the city is in a “crisis of governance” where voters have lost faith in elected officials who are “feathering our nests by being down here.”
He said that’s not true, but it is a reason not to try to change council pay.
Council members Long Pham from District 6, Nikkie Hunter from District District 3 and Raul Gonzalez from District 2 agreed that they view their positions on the council as volunteer. They said they think that’s how others should see it, too.
Odom-Wesley and Council member Rebecca Boxall, who represents District 5, said they don’t want to see the council receive a salary for a full-time job, they just want it to be more accessible for those who aren’t wealthy, retired or both.
“I haven’t heard anybody suggest that we are raising it to be a replacement salary or a salary for someone to live on. I think it does help people who want to run in the future,” Boxall said. "We don’t have to decide it for ourselves. We can postpone the implementation so that we’re getting away from that whole self-serving thing. I do think it would help increase the pool, but it would by no means replace a salary.”
Ross expressed concern about asking voters to change the way the council pay is set when the city is looking at a possible $11 million budget deficit this year and next year, largely as a result of alterations to county taxes.
“We’re never going to get to a point where you can make a living being mayor and council and if you’re not going to be able to make a living are we really increasing that pool of candidates for those positions?” Ross asked. “I don’t think we are.”
Odom-Wesley and Boxall both emphasized that they don’t want to see someone replace their full-time job with a position on the city council. What they want is enough pay that someone who works a full-time job can reduce their hours at work, devote that time to the city council and receive compensation that makes up for the pay on which they would otherwise miss out.
Pham said he worried proposing a change in council pay could hurt efforts to make other changes necessary under state law and put an upcoming bond election at risk.
“That could jeopardize the other propositions we put on for the bond,” Pham said. “We need to take it off and just focus on the bond because that’s what’s most important for the city.”
In the end, the majority of the council decided in an informal poll that it would not continue discussions on council and mayor compensation.
Male-only charter language
Another suggestion brought by Odom-Wesley was to update the charter so it does not only refer to men as the elected officials. While it does not prohibit women from running for or being elected to those offices, Odom-Wesley said it reflects an outdated view on city government.
The charter, written in the 1920s, currently refers to all council members and the mayor as men. Odom-Wesley said it’s outdated and that changing it to be non-gender specific would help bring the charter into the modern age and represent that those elected to such positions don’t have to be male.
The change was originally suggested Nov. 12. The council decided in an informal poll to end discussions about the suggested change after saying it could upset voters who see it as a socio-political issue that would create controversy.
At the council’s afternoon work session Tuesday, Bowie Hogg, the council member District 7, said it could create a “firestorm.”
He worried that voters would say no to other things, like charter amendments to bring the city in line with state law and an upcoming bond election because they would misinterpret the proposed change, thinking the city council was getting involved in politics around gender identity.
“I’m not willing to put a bond election at risk,” Hogg said. “A firestorm on one thing can create a firestorm on other things.”
Ross and Gonzalez agreed, both saying they received angry emails and phone calls from residents after the opening of an inclusive park in the city. The word “inclusive” in that case refers to the park being accessible to people with physical disabilities, but Ross and Gonzalez said its use in any context can rile up constituents.
Council member Mauricio Galante, who represents District 1, said it’s more a matter of updating the grammar in the charter than anything else.
He, Odom-Wesley and Boxall indicated in the poll that they would like to continue the discussion. Hunter, Piel, Gonzalez and Pham voted to end the discussion and remove the suggestion from proposals that will be sent to voters. Ross and Hogg did not vote.
