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WARREN -- City council heard the first reading of an ordinance that would raise the salaries of the mayor, city auditor, law director and members of city council at its meeting Wednesday.
Under the proposed legislation, the mayor's salary must always be 1% greater than the base salary of the highest-paid, wage-earning employee in the city.
Mayor Doug Franklin said the proposed legislation would provide better alignment for the way that city officials are paid.
"I think people should look at this as the offices and not the individuals in them," Franklin said. "They need to be adjusted just to make our wage structure more appropriate in terms of chain of command. I think that is the goal."
Councilman Greg Greathouse, D-3rd Ward, said the legislation was not adopted as an emergency ordinance in an effort to give the public an opportunity to provide input.
"There needs to be the opportunity for the back-and-forth input from the citizens," he said.
The ordinance calls for the safety service director to earn 98 percent of the mayor's salary. Franklin earns $87,796 per hear, and current Safety Service Director Eddie Colbert earns $84,489.
The city's auditor shall earn 99 percent of the mayor's salary, and the deputy auditor director shall earn 95 percent of the auditor's salary. Auditor Vince Flask earns $86,652 per year.
The law director shall earn 99 percent of the mayor's salary, the deputy law directors shall earn 95 percent of the law director and assistant law directors shall earn 90 percent of the law director.
Law Director Enzo Cantalamessa earns $80,724.
Council members and council president shall earn no less than 20 percent of the mayor's salary. They earn $11,109 per year.
Beginning in 2026, the city treasurer shall earn 20 percent of the mayor's salary.
Greathouse said council does not yet have solid figures as to what the exact wages the people in the positions would earn.
No elected official has received an increase since 2008.
"For the sake of the public, I'm glad council isn't rushing the process," Franklin said. "It allows for thorough discussion and clarity on what the purpose of this legislation is."
POLICE
Also Wednesday, council adopted an ordinance that establishes a hiring method to attract experienced officers from neighboring departments.
According to the ordinance, officers working for other departments who are at least 21, have at least one year of full-time law enforcement experience, are employed or have been employed within the past year, posess a valid Ohio Peace Officer Training Academy (OPOTA) certification and who have completed a probationary period at their most recent department will be exempt from taking a written civil service test.
Police Chief Eric Merkel said attendance numbers for the civil service test have shrunk in recent years.
"Over the course of the last 10 years we've gotten less than 20, often less than 10 people who show up for the exam," Merkel said.
Merkel said the department has 57 officers, but that the city wants to get back to 70 as quickly as possible.
"We got the idea to do lateral transfers," Merkel said. "So we're hoping to get some experienced police officers that can hit the streets quicker than somebody right out of the academy that has to go through more training."
"We've already gotten eight police officers that want to leave their agencies in the Mahoning Valley right now to come ours," Merkel said.
"Once we publicize this we hope we can get a lot more even from outside of the area and get up to that 70 as quickly as we can."
Colbert said that the city also will offer rookie officers $6,000 for reimbursement for OPOTA training and any officer interested in joining a $10,000 sign-on bonus.
If officers accept the reimbursement for training, they will be required to sign a three-year contract with the department. Anyone who accepts the sign-on bonus also will be required to agree to a three-year deal.
If an officer is to accept both financial bonuses, they will be required to come to a six-year agreement.