By Michael Howell
Town Attorney Brian West gave a brief overview of the process by which the Stevensville Town Council will select a new mayor. He told the council that the law requires them to select a new mayor within 30 days from the day the current mayor’s resignation becomes effective. That date, in this case, is October 1, 2015. West said the law provides that the Council President takes over the functions of the mayor until a new mayor is appointed by vote of the council, although nothing prevents the council from beginning the selection process and actually making the selection prior to the resignation actually taking effect.
This brought up the question of the mayor’s role in that process. West said that, if the selection process took place prior to the resignation taking effect, the current mayor could cast a tie breaking vote if the council should be split over the new appointment. He also stated that, in his opinion, if a sitting council member was interested in running for the office, he or she should probably abstain from participating in the selection process.
Clayton Floyd questioned whether there was really any conflict of interest that would require a councilperson to abstain from participating in the process. He said candidates for political office get to vote for themselves in the election.
West said in his opinion it would not be appropriate for a council member seeking the position to participate in the interview process of the other applicants for the position and he would recommend that they consider abstaining.
Whether the applicants would be given the interview questions prior to the interview was discussed, but nothing was decided in that respect.
The council voted unanimously to approve a conditional use permit for the Stevensville Hotel to allow bicycle camping on the hotel grounds. An amendment to the motion was made and approved to restrict the length of stay at the campground to four days. The time limit was placed to address the problem of potential abuse of the campground by homeless people getting a bicycle and staying indefinitely in the camp.
Following approval of the conditional use permit for the hotel, the council rescinded its previous approval of establishing a bike camp in Lewis and Clark Park.
The council also unanimously approved advertising for a half time Police Clerk position.
Treasurer Stephanie Mapelli discussed with the council the possibility of establishing investment funds for each of the separate funds the town holds including the general fund, water fund and sewer fund. The money would be placed in a set of CDs with time spans “laddered” from six months to possibly four years to increase the interest earned. Mayor Gene Mim Mack said it was a safe way to maximize returns without jeopardizing the town’s liquidity and without jeopardizing the taxpayers’ money. No decision was made.
The council also discussed the mayor’s salary. The committee that reviewed the issue came up with a few different options to consider. One would be to pay $1,600 per month. The second option recommended for consideration was to pay only $800 per month and consider extra pay for special projects when they arise. The third option was to approve a $20,000 annual expense for the office and give the mayor the option of using some portion of that money to hire an assistant if needed. No decision was made.
