PEA RIDGE — After a tied vote, three motions and seconds and an abstention, the salary for the office of mayor was lowered from $40,000 to $26,050 for the term beginning Jan. 1, 2011.

That action was taken at the regular City Council meeting Tuesday night and by Wednesday evening, comments were posted on Facebook deriding the action claiming the current salary is $42,000 and accusing the council of doing it to discourage opposition after the Facebook status of Courtney Hurst, niece of Rick Webb, stated the reduction.

E-mails were circulated by Debbie Van Dyke and Jason Van Dyke stating that: “It appears it was done to prohibit and discourage other citizens to run for this office” and that the action was a “slap in the face to the citizens of the Pea Ridge community.”

“If you are as concerned about this attempt to keep the statusquo in our community, I urge you to call your councilmen and request they get input from their constitutes before they vote on an issue this important. I also urge you to ask them for a revote and restore the salary,” Debbie Van Dyke wrote.

Council members said they received telephone calls asking for an explanation. Council members Steve Guthrie, Nadine Telgemeier, Bob Cottingham and Jack Kelly said they had each been contacted by citizens asking about the Council meeting.

Introducing the subject at Tuesday’s meeting, Cottingham said: “We may possibly have an inexperienced person in that position (after the November general election). I feel like the sitting mayor has devoted 16 years and worked up to the salary he has. I don’t feel like it’s fair to the taxpayers to have the same salary as the sitting mayor.”

Cottingham presented a chart with salaries of Arkansas cities of comparable size. Salaries ranged from a low of $15,768 at Carlisle to a high of $52,000 at Bethel Heights, where the mayor also serves as the superintendent of both the Wastewater and Street departments. Many cities in the area have part-time mayors. Cottingham pointed out that the average for a part-time mayor was $8,231 and the average salary for a full-time mayor was $26,097.

“This has required a lot of soul searching. I honestly don’t feel like an incoming mayor should have the same salary ... One of the candidates has suggested that the mayor not get paid.

“I would propose that we bring someone in at middle range at $15,080 and then, at first of year, re-evaluate whoever becomes mayor. To sum it up, I don’t feel comfortable paying anything above an entry level range,” Cottingham said.

Cottingham voted for the motion. Council members Kelly, Steve Guthrie and Telgemeier voted against the proposal of $15,080.

“This is the reason we have this come up every September, so the people running will know,” Telgemeier said.

The filing period closed in August with Jackie Crabtree filing for re-election and Col. F. Joe Hart, Boyd McNiel and Rick Webb filing for the position.

“Is that the only purpose in running for the office?” asked Cottingham.

Telgemeier asked if the council would re-evaluate “the experience and credentials” at the January meeting.

“I feel like we’d be overpaying someone with no experience with tax payer money,” Cottinghamsaid in response to questions from people in the audience.

Telgemeier then made a motion for $45,000, rejected by the other three council members.

“I think this is way too low, most towns haven’t increased like Pea Ridge,” said Ralph Kotouc from the audience. “This town has more than doubled.”

“With all due respect, I’ve only seen two of these people here two times ... How are they going to serve our citizens? We can’t cheat our taxpaying citizens,” Cottingham said. “If they have all kinds of credentials we’re not aware of ...”

City recorder Sandy Button reminded the council members that a city ordinance requires them to set a salary.

Cottingham made the motion for $26,500, which was seconded by Guthrie. Cottingham and Guthrie voted “yes” with Kelly and Telgemeier voting against the motion. The mayor, who can cast the tie-breaking vote, abstained.

“We’ve got a Texas hold-em,” Button said. “He won’t vote. I can’t vote. It’s tied.”

After contemplation, city attorney Howard Slinkard ruled that the abstention can be counted as an affirmative, as it was earlier in the meeting, and ruled the motion approved.

Candidates comment

Candidates seeking the mayor’s seat all derided the City Council’s decision to decrease the mayor’s salary for the coming term.

“I think it’s very childish and you can, by God, quote me,” Joe Hart said. “The job’s either worth a certain amount of money or it’s not, period. You tell those council members, if I’m the mayor and new council members come in, they’re worth about $2 a piece.”

Hart previously said that the citizens of Pea Ridge pay too much for the mayor’s seat, but Friday, he denied saying he would reduce the salary, but said he would “take the difference and reduce the sales tax on water.”

Rick Webb said: “It’s unethical. It’s not right. I don’t care.

I ain’t talked to everybody. It ain’t right. Any councilman who wants to talk to me can talk to me or the mayor.” Webbsaid he had not called any council members. “I’ve heard the same story from different sources. It’s kind of funny, I’ll put it that way. You wait until to an election year, but didn’t do it the previous years.”

Boyd McNiel said: “Joe Hart might be happy now. What will you do if you get in office?

Sounds to me like somebody should have been there ... that’s half the reason some of these men ran was because of the salary thing. Not that it was too high, in my opinion, the salary should not go into effect until the next term, not the existing term.”

“Who’s to say that Joe Hart or I or Rick Webb is not just as qualified... we may learn slowly, but a new person could come in a running. I’ve talked to the head personnel. I’ve told them that in the event I become mayor, I’m going to need to get all the help I can.”

News, Pages 1 on 09/29/2010