Caruthersville Council meets in heated session

The Caruthersville City Council met on Tuesday, Sept. 5 after the Labor Day holiday for what soon became a heated meeting. During the past council meeting, the budget was presented for approval. The finance committee had held numerous meetings to put the budget together under the strain of the ever tightening financial situation. In the last meeting of Aug. councilperson J.J. Bullington had spoken to the council reminding them and the department heads of the need to make sure finances were watched closely. At that time, the budget was voted in with the understanding that adjustments could still be made if they were found necessary.

As the Sept. 5 council meeting took place, the mayor discussed concerns he had over some of the current salaries. One concern was that Rebecca Morgan was not receiving as much money for cleaning city hall as the previous cleaning staff member received. Council members stated the previous staff had worked for 20 years to get to the level she was at, also mentioning that in the past, the cleaning took place on both sides of the building however now, only one side is being used and they did not understand why 30 hours would be needed to clean that half of the building.

After some discussion, councilperson Nick Cartee stated, “We met about salary and you were in every meeting. Why didn’t you make these recommendations while we were meeting? Why are we bringing this up after everyone has already approved it. This is very irritating after all the work that has been done.” The mayor responded saying he had not been in every meeting, but several answered back saying he indeed had been. He then said, “well I was in and out of the meetings so I could do mayor stuff.” Cartee went on to explain that when they set up the salary schedule they purposely did not look at names but instead went across the board to get everyone in the appropriate pay scale setting where they belonged based on their current hourly rate. “This is not across the board,” said Cartee.

Councilperson JJ Bullington said, “We met for several months working to set this salary schedule. We took every employees current hourly rate, and made sure everyone got a raise and got set up on the salary schedule so that there will be no question. They can know what their increase will be each year according to the schedule. The only decision would be to vote to honor the raises across the board or not honor the raises if we do not have the money to do so. Some employees are capped out on the salary chart but this schedule will prevent that from happening again. We made this schedule by looking at the current hourly rate and getting closest to it on the chart and then bumping it up. This year is a little different, but next year everyone on the respective pay chart will get the same rate increase. We did not pick and chose. The mayor was in every meeting and none of this was every brought up until after we voted it in.”

Discussion continued as it was explained that the mayor had picked up a payroll sheet from the accountants office and had gone to numerous city employees showing them the difference in their salary versus that of other employees. The mayor responded saying it was public record.

The mayor went on to say that he thought everyone was going to receive either a $400 per year raise or 1/2 %, whichever was greater. Councilperson Matt Duckworth said, “This was explained to you in the meetings you were in.”

Bullington went on to say that one of the employees who was concerned about their position on the schedule was Karen Henson who was in attendance at the council meeting. Bullington said if a mistake was made she would be moved to the next step on the schedule without any issue, but that it should have been brought to the finance committee to be fixed instead of being taken to the employees to stir dissension. Bullington went on to explain, “I don’t set the salaries, I just plug them in. Any changes need to go before council. You have talked to all the employees and got them stirred up but you didn’t make these recommendations until after it was approved.”

Mayor Mike McGraw replied, “I got the salary rates from Paula. I am steadfast in my clerk situation, the collector should get paid. Someone said the women’s bathroom is the cleanest it has ever been. I recommend Rebecca get the same amount Virginia did and that Karen be moved a step to get 1 1/2%.”

Bullington said that could easily be done through a vote but that the payroll should be looked over again and the same should be done for any employee who is near the next step.

McGraw then said he also recommended Beth Bailey receive a stipend, “because it is hard to find anyone who will come in and open at 4:30 every morning.”

He went on to say that he wanted to work together to find an answer through compromise without issue. Bullington responded saying, “You’re right, it shouldn’t be such a conflict. You made it a conflict because you showed the payroll to all the employees and got them all stirred up.” The mayor interrupted and said, “Not everyone.” Bullington went on to say, “as a leader, you shouldn’t do that. This was a blanket policy decision and if changes needed to be made, you should have brought them up in the meeting.”

The mayor responded saying he would rather err on the side of the employee. Cartee responded saying, “if we do this for one we have to do it for everyone.” McGraw said, “this is why I would prefer equal amounts, $400 a year.”

Bullington answered, “Based on what you recommended, on your plan, they would lose money about half way down and we showed that to you on paper. The current plan is based on the best of both worlds for the employee. It would be a one year problem for anyone dealing with being on the edge of the schedule. We have not been able to give raises so we are trying to get to a point with the salary chart so we can do this. We have had hours of meetings trying to get everyone moved.

City Clerk Takella Motton then stated that she had been upset because it was discussed that a temporary clerk would receive the same amount of pay as she had. She went on to say that during a meeting it was said that they should hire a clerk and pay them $15 hour because if they were paid well, they won’t steal. Councilperson Matt Duckworth interjected stating that he had been on the water committee and had never heard that stated. “I would like to read the minutes where this was said and know who said it. But I do not believe that was ever said in a meeting.” Motton said she did not remember which meeting it was but that it was indeed said. Counselor Lawrence Dorroh spoke to the group explaining that the temporary clerk is for when the city clerk can not perform the duties and they get the same rate of pay only if the city clerk isn’t receiving pay.

Motton responded, “I am tired of the games.” Duckworth went on to say, “This is nothing more than political posture. I have been in all the meetings. We voted on all this and none of this was ever discussed until I come into this meeting tonight.”

“You (McGraw) sat in every meeting and never said a thing. I hope the people of this city have the sense to see what you are doing. You could have gotten a copy of the pay schedule at any time to find out the rates and dealt with this before the vote,” said Bullington. “I didn’t know the numbers,” responded McGraw.

Bullington went on to say, “Rebecca is paid what you told Paula (the accountants office) to pay her. Nobody set her salary but you.”

Cartee, “As hard as we have worked on this salary schedule, I am tempted to just say scrap it and start over. But, I would like to make a motion that we go through and look at each employee and see if there is anywhere that we need to make adjustments. Not for you (McGraw) to like, but to make sure it is fair for all the employees.”

McGraw responded, “That’s not nice.” “You’re not nice. You have been lying to everyone. You might as well tell me to shut up again like you did in the past meeting. You go around telling everyone in town about it and causing problems,” Bullington answered. “This won’t affect many but we will go through and check each person who is a few cents away and will adjust them to the next step.”

McGraw again brought up Rebecca saying, $6,000 vs. $4,000. Bullington answered, “Her rate is $7.44/hour for however many hours she works.” McGraw said, “But you want to cut her hours.” It was then discussed that the mayor wanted to give 30 hours per pay period to clean the building, yet only half of the building is now in use. The question was then asked about clocking in and the mayor responded that she did not clock in.

Chief of Police Tony Jones then spoke to the group saying, “This has to stop. Going behind people’s backs to stir this stuff. Just treat everyone the same. We have to work together and stop bickering back and forth or we are going to have to shut this city down. This is ridiculous and embarrassing for all of us and for the city.”