Geneva officials will be paid for missed meetings

Geneva aldermen won't be docked pay for missing city council or committee of the whole meetings after all.

After a flurry of late-minute amendments was pitched and knocked down, the committee of the whole voted 6-4 Monday against the measure. It won't advance to a city council agenda.

Along the way Monday, the council voted against a suggestion to reduce aldermen's pay by $40 per missed council and committee meeting; against docking the mayor one-48th of the annual salary when meetings are missed and giving it to the person chairing the meeting in his or her absence; and against including the mayor in the plan at all.

Geneva aldermen are paid $150 per city council meeting. There usually are two council meetings each month as well as two committee of the whole meetings each month - for which they are not paid.

The mayor receives an annual salary of $25,000.

"If council members were only to attend city council, we would be doing only the bare minimum of what citizens expect of us," said Alderman Dorothy Flanagan, who voted against the proposal. "(The ordinance) can't require people to be more engaged. And it insults those who are."

The idea originally was proposed by Alderman Robert Piper when the council was discussing a plan to allow members to attend meetings via telephone if they were out of town on business or were ill. While some aldermen argued that their work encompassed much more than attending meetings, he countered that much of their research and study was for naught if they weren't in the council chambers to represent their constituents on votes. He also said that it was important to discuss issues and learn the thoughts of other aldermen at meetings.

Resident Gerrold Cass, who has attended several council meetings, said he believes the current council is accountable and works well. "I'd like to put the kibosh on this and go back to what you were doing before. Let the voters decide (an alderman's performance)," Cass said.

In neighboring Batavia, aldermen are allowed two excused absences per year before their pay is reduced. Geneva also considered allowing two excused absences per year.

The changes would have taken effect May 1, 2011, because the council can't change its own pay midterm and the deadline has passed for changing the pay of aldermen to be elected in April 2009.