The Appleton Common Council met 03/17/2021. One of the items they took up was the discussion of the alderperson salary.
The recommendation from the committee was to increase the alderperson salary from $6,221 to $10,125 beginning April of 2023.
Mayor Woodford asked if there was a motion and there was, what felt like to me, a very pregnant pause and it almost seemed like nobody was going to make a motion. However, Alderperson Joe Martin (District 4), the alderperson who had made the original proposal in committee to raise the salary to $10,125, spoke up and made a motion to approve the salary increase. His motion was seconded by Alderperson Joe Prohaska (District 14).
Alderperson Katie Van Zeeland (District 13) spoke first. She said that the committee found itself in a tough place with this item because they were asked to decide if they would be giving a raise in 2022 to only half the Council members or hold off until 2023 and give a raise to all the Alderpersons at the same time. [Due to the pandemic, they missed voting on a potential salary increase before December 1, 2020 which means, any salary increase that happens in 2022 could only be enjoyed by the Alderpersons in even number districts.]
She stated that this is a conversation that doesn’t need to be had at this time. [The deadline for either a 2022 raise for the even numbered alderpersons or a 2023 raise for the whole Common Council is December 1, 2021]. She did, however, think it was a good thing to start with discussing whether they thought it was fair to pay half the council a different rate and then, if not, they could work on this in the fall of this year. She said she voted to move it out of committee because she thought it would be a lengthy discussion, but she is not willing to vote for it as it is right now.
Alderperson Maiyoua Thao (District 7) also stated that they have until December to make a decision on this. She agreed with Alderperson Van Zeeland that it was a hard item to discuss in committee. She wanted to thank the committee for working on this. She wanted the Council to remember this item so they don’t miss it like they did last fall. She said the full Common Council could work on it together, since it’s on the floor, or they could refer it back to committee.
Alderperson Michael Smith (District 10) thought the salary the committee was recommending warranted more discussion. He did not want to forget the item like they did in the past. But he wanted to refer it back to the committee if that was in order.
Mayor Woodford said he would need to state that as a motion and then it would need a second, which alderperson did, and it was seconded.
Per attorney Behrens, the referral back did not need to be voted on and would be automatic unless there was an objection.
No one objected but right as Mayor Woodford was about the refer it back to the Human Resources and Information Technology Committee Alderperson Martin asked if he could speak.
Mayor Woodford asked him if he was objecting to the refer back.
Alderperson Martin did not answer the question but asked to speak again.
The Mayor asked attorney Behrens what the correct procedure was, and the attorney told him that it was his call as the chair if he wanted to allow the alderperson to Behrens: It’s the call of the chair if you want to permit.
Mayor Woodford again asked Alderperson Martin if what he wanted to say regarded the referral back to committee.
Alderperson Martin answered no.
The mayor then said that, hearing no objections, the item was referred back to the committee and did not give Alderperson Martin an opportunity to speak.
View full meeting details and video here: https://cityofappleton.legistar.com/MeetingDetail.aspx?ID=825734&GUID=3BA63E0C-B886-48F5-87C4-4C47B4CA644D&Options=info|&Search=
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