Below is the agenda for this meeting, and under that are my agenda and meeting analysis. And, read my commentary about this meeting here.
A. Agenda analysis
Council pay, item 5: We've really got to show some respect for Mayor Stewart, an elected official, willing to state in public that he is considering a pay cut. And, the City Administrator is out there on a limb with the Mayor, as well, because as written she is making the ask. For sure, nothing gets included in the agenda in this instance without both of them being in the loop. Regardless of how the vote turns out (and other council members have resisted in the past), this agenda item shows some real moxie.
The rest of the agenda is the stock agenda.
B. Meeting analysis
Council pay, item 5: Upon a deadlocked 2-2 vote, Mayor Stewart broke a deadlock by voting in favor of Council Member Lindley's motion to reduce the Mayor's and Council's pay by $100 per meeting. Thus, the vote was 3-2, and the Council reduced its members' pay by $100 per meeting. Councilman Councilman was the second to Lindley's motion. So, those voting in favor were Stewart, Lindley and Councilman, and those opposing were Holland and Crutchfield. Only Holland voiced opposition to the motion while it was being discussed. See my commentary below.
Council Member resignation, other announcements, item 8b: In a surprise move, and in apparent protest to the reduction in pay, Council member Holland resigned her position. See my commentary below.
C. Commentary: I quoted President Jimmy Carter on this page at picture 3, “The experience of democracy is like the experience of life itself - always changing, infinite in its variety, sometimes turbulent and all the more valuable for having been tested by adversity.” Well, democracy was in its best changing form at this meeting when Mayor Stewart broke a deadlock and voted to reduce the pay for himself and the Council's members. The Council has achieved a degree of selflessness in their leadership by lowering their own pay. Find me an example of that anywhere else in government these days and I'll eat my new "Gov in the Sun" custom cap given to me this Christmas by my daughter!
Here is what the community misses out on when it fails to attend these meetings: you miss seeing the instances where democracy works as it should and elected officials act selflessly on behalf of the public. The very ideal of public service - serving the public's interest rather than one's own interests - was tested. And, it was put to the test by Mayor Stewart and City Administrator Michelle Rabenaldt, who as I said above, showed a lot of moxie just by putting the matter on the agenda.
The truth is that some folks will serve on a government board for free, and Mayor Stewart is an example of that person. He has said in prior discussions on this issue that he didn't come to the council looking for pay. His actions show that. Another element of this discussion is that there are some, like Ms. Rabenaldt, who don't believe council members should be paid. When challenged by Council member Holland on the issue at this meeting, she did not shy away from her opinion that she did not think that pay was appropriate...but she also said that did not mean that she did not value the sacrifice council members made to serve.
Why was less pay promoted now? The gist of the discussion was that more could be accomplished, more than just treading water, in certain priority areas. There is no financial exigency at the City, no misspent money or graft going on. The reduction would just mean that money could be reallocated in the budget to more productive areas. I think there were two other reasons for raising this now, though not stated at this meeting. First, the City's bond counsel recently forced a water and sewer rate hike because the City was just treading water financially. The City needs to do more than just tread water, and this reallocation would in part allow for that. And, second, I think the Council still had some explaining to do from a previous discussion of council member pay that showed in fact the Mertzon City Council was being handsomely paid in comparison to other cities its size. The Mayor and Council pay was just too high, and it was rather obvious. These facts made Council member Holland's opposition to the pay decrease seem rather shallow. Her refrain was that the current pay should be left alone "for the citizens" because reallocating the money elsewhere would be changing how the City is spending its money and change wasn't needed. This, however, was really just her misdirect to avoid openly saying that she would like to continue being paid the same because the money is a nice side gig. (Most council meetings last 1 to 1.5 hours, so the previous pay was sometimes $200 an hour!) Moreover, back in 2020 Council member Holland was a key member voting to close 4th Street for the City Gym, thereby currently hamstringing the City and IC ISD with street and City Park flooding. So, from my perspective her financial legacy as a Council member is more in the red than in the black, by far. Both the City and IC ISD are going to have to deal with flooding from now until that gym is razed for the wrongheaded decision that was made to close 4th Street and locate that gym where it is today. The only other Council member to oppose the pay reduction was Council member Crutchfield, who at first appeared to try to straddle the fence during discussion by saying that he could "go either way" on the decrease. He did not voice any opposition to the decrease during discussion, but ultimately voted "no" along with Holland.
Procedurally, when there is a deadlocked council vote the Mayor gets to break the tie. Mayor Stewart did not hesitate in his resolve to approve the reduction by casting the tie breaker. Later in the meeting Council member Holland did not make explicit that she was resigning in protest, but she didn't deny it either by stating some other reason.
I commend City Administrator Rabenaldt and Mayor Stewart for their courage to bring this issue forward. I also commend them, as well as members Lindley and Councilman, for making the larger point that their role is one of public service. The very ideal of public service - serving the public's interest rather than one's own interests - was tested. And, the public came out the winner.
Here's the Park website: Seminole Canyon State Park and Historic Site. I've also written about this park in another blog post, with more pictures. We did not see any migrants crossing this trip, if that is an issue for you.
Copyright 2025 G Noelke