2020 Budget Approved
At a special Town Board meeting held on Friday, November 15, the council members voted 3 to 1 to approve next year’s spending plan with Councilman Norman Rassmussen absent, and Interim Supervisor Meg Robertson casting the lone dissenting vote. In the published minutes of that meeting, Councilman Mark Baumli reported to have asked Supervisor Robertson why she was opposed to the budget. Ms. Robertson stated that she voted no because of the Supervisor’s salary that seems to be an obsession with everybody. She still doesn’t feel that it needs to be at $14,000 because she compared the salaries of other towns and their populations and ours is larger than it really needs to be.
Councilmember Baumli asked Interim Supervisor Robertson if when she did the comparison does it compare the number of hours that those town supervisors are spending in those positions, and are they only in their offices a couple of hours a week. Interim Supervisor Robertson stated that she has no idea, there are supervisors she has interacted with over the last 4 months who are very busy and others that she knows are less busy. She doesn’t know what their salaries are off the top of her head but she did study the list very well.
Councilmember Baumli stated that he approved it because our past supervisor and our elected supervisor are going to spend a considerable amount of time here at the town hall and be available to the public so they deserve the extra pay compared to a town whose supervisor is only there 5 hours a week. He stated that until you compare the number of hours that various supervisors are in their offices, available to the public, he doesn’t think that those numbers are a valid comparison.
Approving EMS Services
At the meeting, board members unanimously approved the 2020 contract with the Chatham Rescue Squad to provide ambulance service to the town. They also approved a half payment to Banker Enterprises for the pavilion bathroom project, as the town’s engineer has verified the project is more than half way completed.