$200 REVISITED

The mayor suggested in the last posting of the $200 a month she was receiving for expenses that I get with the town manager and examine the documents that according to her indicate the $200 a month was valid and justified, and a precedence had been set several years ago for such a practice. I did as she suggested and got the information from Mr. Humphries and also spoke to him at great length in regards to this topic as well as the budget in general.

Here's what we know so far as facts:
1. Mayor Moore collected $200 per month for expenses all totaled about $5,600.00 until stopped voluntarily by the mayor when it was brought up at a meeting in Nov/Dec time frame of 2006.
2. Larry Helms (then Mayor) collected what appears to be $200.00 per month in what started out as Adm. Allowance, then to what was called Travel Allowance to finally entries not being called anything but notated with a check number and a date I believe. All totaled he received about $4,300.00 in what appears to be for expenses from 3/27/1997 until 11/24/1998 when he left for the county.
3. Ray Killough and Ed Smith followed as mayor and neither person received any $200.00 payment for expenses. In fact Mr. Killough never received the salary for serving as Mayor.
4. I have seen and requested the budget for the past 6 budgets. In that time no information was supplied to me that indicated anything resembling a $200.00 per month stipend for the mayor. That is until Mr. Humpries gave me documents the mayor was referring to in her previous posts. I received a Salary Schedule for the 2005-2006 budget that has some handwritten notations in the margin and a line item that indicates (Local travel-line item 31 $2400. Appears under the Mayor's salary and above the Mayor pro tem salary. No other indication that it would be for the mayor. Could actually lead someone to believe the $2400 was for local travel in line item 31 which is named Travel and Transportation. In the same packet of papers was a handwritten sheet of paper 2004-2005 budget prep. Under Admin - 31 incl 2400. Again no reference to anything else.
5. At the last Council Meeting when this item was being officially stopped. It was brought up that Mr. Helms sort of remembers the topic coming up...Mr. Killough had no recolection of it, but stated he might have missed that budget meeting. Ms. Cass was out of the country. Mr. Helms stated that if they had to they could get letters from previous council members that would state they remember voting on such an expense payment for the mayor. In fact Ms. Vickery had already done just that and in her letter stated that the expense was for phone expense. That her memory was clear the motion was made and adopted...though the important thing here I think is there was never a date sited for the meeting.
6. I know I was in attendance that year for all the public meetings and nothing in my memory sticks out that this so called discussion nor subsequent vote ever took place. But I am getting older and my memory is sometimes not what it was so????
7. Lets then go to the minutes for the meeting. Seems easy enough, but nothing is ever easy. Apparently, the minutes for the meetings don't tell the full story and nothing appears that this motion or discussion took place. This is the crux of the argument that apparently prompted Ms. Cass to call for a motion that the monies paid to the mayor be repaid to the town. That motion was defeated 4 to 1. The motion Ms. Howe had for official stopage of the payment passed 5-0.
8. The former mayor Ed Smith having seen Mayor Moores previous post then spoke with Mr. Humphries and told him he knew nothing nor did he ever receive any such expense payment. He even wrote a two page letter for the council to see.

So what we have here is a complete cluster. No records to support the claim only vague memories from people that supposedly made the motion and subsequent vote and the few people in the audience that doesn't remember the vote taking place either. Some handwritten documents with notes indicating a 2400 inclusion into something called Travel and Transportation. I can only assume there is less than that from the 1997-1998 time frame when Larry Helms was being paid. The current Mayor assures the town manager that her taxes were done properly and infact she has expenses for another $1,000 in that same time frame. The last budget meeting the council had agreed the only expenses to be repayed were that of travel expense nothing about office supplies, offices, fax, telephones lines and so on.

The mayor indicated a precedence had been set in the past back when Lary Helms was mayor. That may be true, but.....If that was the case, then why would it have been necessary to have a motion and subsequent vote on the subject if it already existed in the town?????
Why then would Ray Killough and Ed Smith not have gotten at least the ability to turn down the expense payment???? Too many questions exist and not enough answers.

So what to do now???? The council in a 5-0 vote officially halted the payment and will revisit the subject during the budget considerations. During those budget considerations I would suggest to the council to identify authorized expenses for the council and mayor. Maybe establish a stipend to offset cell phone charges for the Mayor and Mayor pro tem. (In case of emergency)and the FULL TIME Town Manager can not be reached. Outside of that, unless compelling information is brought forth that legitimizes more expenses that should be it. The council positions are not full time positions such as exist in large cities so the expenses shouldn't be as great either. Guidelines officially documented for all to see and hear need to be in place for future councils and mayors. That goes for town employees also. Just like a business, there should be a clear understanding as to what is acceptable and what is not.