Simmesport Council mulls more money for mayor

Only a few months after changing their monthly pay by increasing the base amount by 50 percent, but eliminating any pay for special meetings, the outgoing Simmesport Town Council introduced an ordinance setting the salaries of elected and appointed town officials.

A major provision of the ordinance is to raise the mayor's salary from $27,000 to $38,480 a year.

The ordinance introduced at the council's Dec. 14 meeting will be amended and corrected between now and a public hearing to be held on Jan. 14 just prior to the Town Council meeting, Town Attorney Chris LaCour told councilmen at the meeting.

The January meeting was rescheduled from Jan. 11 to Jan. 14 to ensure there were 30 days between the introduction and adoption of the ordinance.

The only current councilman who will be able to vote on the ordinance is Sherman Bell. The other four aldermen will be attending their first council meeting after being elected in the recent elections.

The ordinance would set Mayor Leslie Draper's annual salary at $38,480, or $3,206.67 a month, "plus reimbursement of any expenses approved by the mayor, or by majority vote of the Town Council, for expenses incurred during the course and scope" of duties to the municipality. He is currently paid $2,250 a month, or $27,000 a year.

Under the proposed ordinance, aldermen's salaries would remain at $450 a month, or a total of $5,400 a year, plus reimbursement of authorized and duty-related expenses.

The ordinance was introduced on a 3-0 vote, with Bell, Myron Brown and Tonya Coco all voting in favor. Aldermen Kenneth Marsh and Ted Turner were absent for their last council meeting.

The council members on Jan. 14 will be District 4 incumbent Sherman Bell and newcomers Glenn Gautreaux (District 1), Tiesha Kennedy (District 2), Patrick Wright (District 3) and Romara D. Turner (At large).

The ordinance introduced set the annual salaries of the appointed town clerk, police chief and town superintendent at $40,280 each. The town clerk and superintendent currently earn $38,480 a year, or $3,200 a month.

LaCour told the council the ordinance will be amended to include establishing the pay of "other municipal officers" not named in the original version of the ordinance.

The police chief's salary was set in May 2017 at $800 a week, which is $41,600 a year. However, the proposed ordinance took a common mathematical shortcut to assume the police chief also made $3,200 a month -- an error that was also included in the 2017 ordinance establishing the salary at $800 a week. The budget shows the correct annual salary of $41,600.

While a month is usually thought to four weeks, with 12 four-week months in a year, there are actually 13 four-week periods in a 52-week year. The police chief salary was established on a per-week period while other salaries were established on a per-month basis.

If the ordinance were adopted as presented, the police chief's salary would actually be reduced from $41,600 to $$40,280.

The ordinance states the town attorney is a "contracted professional" and the salary "shall be agreed upon between the mayor and the attorney and approved by the Town Council."

The compensation will be in accordance with the hourly fee schedule established by the Attorney General's Office and will be reviewed and approved by the attorney general.

SECOND PAY ADJUSTMENT

This would be the town's second adjustment of officials' salaries in less than a year.

In May the council amended the way in which the mayor and aldermen were paid. Aldermen received $300 a month and $150 if the mayor called a special meeting. The mayor's compensation was $1,500 a month and $750 if there was a special meeting.

It was noted that there had been a special meeting in Simmesport every month dating back to before Draper took office in January 2017.

The mayor's monthly compensation was set at $1,500 plus $750 for a special meeting when he took office, which was a significant increase over what the previous mayor was paid.

Financial statements filed by Mayor Eric Rusk in the six years prior to his leaving office indicated annual compensation of between $10,000 and $12,000 compared to the approximately $27,000 a year Draper received in each of his first years as mayor.

If the salary ordinance is approved as presented, it would mean the town's mayor would have gone from earning approximately $12,000 a year as a "part-time" executive to over $38,000 as a "full-time" mayor.

It would also mean Draper would replace Mansura Mayor Kenneth Pickett -- with an annual salary of $36,000 -- as the parish's highest-paid mayor. Bunkie's Bruce Coulon is in third at $23,040.

All other parish municipalities pay their mayor less than $1,000 a month.

Marksville Mayor John Lemoine is paid $500 a month -- the same as the city council members -- to serve as chief executive of the parish's largest municipality.

AUDIT COMPLETED

In another matter at the Dec. 14 meeting, LaCour told the council the Legislative Auditor's Office has completed its investigation and presented recommendations on how the town can better manage and report its finances. He said he would be talking with auditors before the end of the year to get more details.

Draper said the important thing is that "no crimes were committed" and that the process was "quite a learning experience."

While the prospect of the audit was unpleasant in the beginning, Draper said it turned out being positive for the town.

"You don't get bitter, you get better," he said. "I know we are in a better position now."

He praised the Legislative Auditor's team for the attitude and recommendations for the future.

LaCour said the auditors didn't come to Town Hall "with an iron fist simply to call out what was wrong," but were genuinely interested in helping to ensure Simmesport was successful in the future.

"They were very forthright with their comments and candid in their feedback," LaCour said.

"It was a much more positive experience than anyone thought it would be," he added.