Aldermen Salary Reduction Discussed: August City Board Working Session Held Tuesday Night

The working session for the August Magnolia City Board Meeting was held Tuesday night at City Hall. All City Aldermen/Alderwomen and the Mayor were in attendance as well as approximately 10 concerned city residents. There were several topics on the agenda but what was most apparent at the meeting, from Board meetings during the prior administration, was that the Mayor allowed and encouraged inclusiveness from Board members and those residents in attendance. This was a welcome change!

Topics discussed were somewhat controversial with

Alderman Cornacchione proposing a reduction in the Aldermen’s salaries to be more in line with how other cities pay their Board members for a similar size city. As noted in prior articles, over the past 10 years the population of Magnolia, according to US Census and Mississippi economic data, has reduced significantly from over 2,800 residents to now closer to 1,700. Technically, Magnolia is not really classified as a city but a town. During that time the pay for Aldermen has nearly doubled during the prior 2 Witherspoon administrations and additionally the “parttime” Aldermen/ Alderwomen received health insurance benefits at the cost to taxpayers of Magnolia. Mayor Brumfield asked for a review of the data being presented for accuracy and currency, and the topic will be discussed openly when that data is presented.

Alderman Cornacchione also proposed that all part-time employees not be covered by city-paid health insurance. This was primarily targeted at the Aldermen/Alderwomen Board positions. In the prior administration, part-time Aldermen were given the option of having the city pay for their health insurance or received a pay-supplement equal to what the cost would be. As you can imagine, 4 of the 5 prior Aldermen took the pay supplement, effectively giving them another compensation increase. This additional benefit to the Board increased the budget and tax burden of the city of Magnolia taxpayers. Alderman Pounds stated that currently, no other part-time city workers (police, public works or administration) receive this insurance benefit. The city attorney stated that per state statute 21-13-3 that the Board can vote to reduce their salaries within the current term. The mayor requested that the issue be reviewed and investigated.

There was extensive discussion on city employee vacation time buy-backs and accruing vacation across multiple years. It appears that from the prior administration that several employees have extensive accrued vacation which is effectively a lien against the current city budget from past years. The current estimate is a $75,000 lien against the current city budget for accrued vacation by employees over past years. Even though there are documented procedures and policies on carry-over leave and buy-back, they were not being adhered to.

The Mayor is looking into the current policies and will work with the Board to get employee vacation policies back in-line and address the current lien.

The city police department requested the hiring of a new officer, Cartrell Jackson, to support the South Pike County School District and convert a part-time administrative clerk, Hasha Lewis, to fulltime. The part-time clerk will support multiple departments at the new City Police and Fire Annex.

The city administration is proposing to increase the selling permit fee for food vendors from $25/day to $100/day for vendors selling within Magnolia’s city limits. This would include those vendors selling at the Farmer Market Pavilion, Food Trucks, and other venues. This increased fee would only apply to “food vendors” and not other selling crafts, etc.

The Mayor is requesting that the Board approve the appointing of Edward Johnson as the city’s Volunteer Recreation Director. The Mayor indicated that we needed recreation activities available and schedule for our youth as opposed to having our youth go to other cities such as McComb and Summit for these services. Mr. Johnson would volunteer his time at no cost to the city.

Additionally, on August 23, a Health Fair sponsored by Pike County will be held in McComb. The fair will focus on fitness activities, and there will be health officials present to conduct various health screening activities. More to come as information becomes available.

Since this was a working meeting, there were no votes or approvals to the abovementioned agenda items. The actual Monthly City Board meeting is scheduled for next Tuesday, August 5 at 5:30pm at City Hall. All interested residents and citizens are encouraged to attend.

Residents, it’s time to get involved with the city we all live in!