At Thursday’s Kenner City Council meeting, the Council will
vote on whether to place as many as six Charter Changes on the November 4th
ballot.
In 2012, Kenner voters overwhelmingly approved two Charter
Changes, one to limit political activities by non-civil service city employees
and the other to mandate Council approval and an opportunity for public comment
on all professional services contracts entered into by the Mayor over $100,000.
Both Charter Changes were supported by Citizens For a Better Kenner (CFBK) and
opposed by Mayor Yenni.
If these Charter Changes are approved by the Council and
placed on the November 4th ballot, voters might have mixed feelings,
approving some while voting against others.
Proposed Charter
Change 1: The first proposed Charter Change would increase the size of
the Council staff allowing each Councilmember to continue to have 1 aide each
and allow up to 5 assistants to the Council Clerk. It would also make all of
the Council’s Administrative Personnel non-civil service employees.
Rather than increasing staff, ClickJefferson.com proposes a
flat budget for the Council with all Administrative Personnel paid from that
budget. In this way, the budget would determine the amount of additional
personnel and the Council would need to justify each new hire.
Proposed Charter Change 2: This
proposed change would specify that all bond debt issues for which state law requires approval
via a voter referendum be put before the voters.
CFBK sued the City and Mayor Yenni after Yenni took on the largest debt in Kenner’s history to fund his 2030 Plan without a voter referendum. Yenni contended that, since the bonds were “sales tax revenue bonds” and not “revenue bonds”, a voter referendum was not required. This Proposed Charter Change would not fix that loophole.
Essentially, this Charter Change removes the word "revenue" from the Charter. Instead of tightening the Charter to eliminate the opportunity for any Mayor to ever take on bond debt without a voter referendum (as many municipalities already do), this proposed change means that only those bonds that require a voter referendum per state law will ever have one.
CFBK sued the City and Mayor Yenni after Yenni took on the largest debt in Kenner’s history to fund his 2030 Plan without a voter referendum. Yenni contended that, since the bonds were “sales tax revenue bonds” and not “revenue bonds”, a voter referendum was not required. This Proposed Charter Change would not fix that loophole.
Essentially, this Charter Change removes the word "revenue" from the Charter. Instead of tightening the Charter to eliminate the opportunity for any Mayor to ever take on bond debt without a voter referendum (as many municipalities already do), this proposed change means that only those bonds that require a voter referendum per state law will ever have one.
Proposed Charter Change 3: This proposed change would tie the salaries of all Kenner elected officials (Mayor, Police Chief, Councilmembers) to a percentage of the salary of Judges in the 24th JDC.
The Mayor’s salary would be 75% of a judge; the Police Chief’s
salary would be pegged at 70% of a judge; the Council-At-Large members would
receive 25% of a judge’s salary; the District Councilmen would receive 20% of
judge’s salary; and the Council President and Vice-President (typically the 2
At-Large Councilmembers) would receive an additional 2% and 1% respectively.
24th JDC Judges earn $125,000 annually. Currently,
Mayor Yenni is paid $72,500 annually, the Police Chief is paid $68,500, the
Council-At-Large receive almost $26,000 annually plus a bump for being Council
President and Vice-President, and the District Councilmen earn about $21,000
annually (not including $500 per month in auto allowances for the Council).
The new plan would pay Yenni $93,750, an increase of over
$20,000 per year. The Police Chief’s salary would increase to $87,500, while
the Council-At-Large positions would be paid $32,150 (plus an additional $2,500
or $1,250 for Council President and Vice-President and the $500 monthly auto
allowance) and the District Councilmen would be paid $25,000 (along with the
$500 monthly auto allowance).
In addition to an immediate increase, as the salaries of the
judges in the 24th JDC increase, so would the salaries of all Kenner
elected officials.
The salary increase would take effect on 7/1/2015, meaning
that it would impact all of the incoming Council along with Mayor Yenni and new
Police Chief Glaser. While the Council might deserve a salary increase, no
Mayor deserves a $20,000+ salary increase at a time when the city is declining
in both population and revenue, and any proposed salary increase should take
effect with the NEXT Council, Mayor and Police Chief, if at all.
Proposed Charter
Change 4: This would allow the Council to hire their own full-time or
part-time legal counsel. Several Councilmembers have long complained that the
City Attorney repeatedly sided with the Mayor and did not provide them with
impartial research and opinions.
Since the City is already paying a politically connected law
firm, the Becknell Law Firm, thousands of taxpayer dollars to do routine real
estate work and since three incoming Councilmembers, District 4 Councilman Lenny
Cline, District 5 Councilman Dominick Impastato and former City Attorney and new Councilman-At-Large Keith Conley, are attorneys,
this Charter Change appears to be just another windfall for a politically
connected attorney.
Again, if the Council were given a set budget for their
Administrative Staff, and felt the need to add an attorney, they would be
responsible for justifying this cost. As it stands now with the makeup of the
incoming Council and their allegiance to Yenni, this is unnecessary.
Proposed Charter
Change 5: This would allow the Mayor to designate an “Acting Mayor”
from his Administration if he was not available for 72 hours or more.
Currently, the Council President becomes “Acting Mayor” in the Mayor’s absence.
This is a poorly
conceived idea which would allow the city to be governed by someone who was
never elected.
Proposed Charter
Change 6: This would allow the Council to approve or disapprove the
salaries of political appointees and set up a "pay plan" for political appointees. Currently, the Mayor has carte blanche to pay
his political appointees whatever he desires, as evidenced by the recent hiring
of Interim City Attorney Louis Gruntz at a salary of $30,000 more than the man
he replaced. I have never seen a Council vote against a pay raise that was proposed by Mayor Yenni, even when citizens have questioned it.
While this might be a good idea in theory, given the makeup
of the incoming Council, I don’t expect them to turn down Mayor Yenni on
anything.
