By Michael Howell
The Stevensville Town Council decided last week to table its discussion concerning a permissive medical levy until the next budget cycle.
At its previous meeting, the Council had considered adopting a permissive medical levy without funding it. Most of the public in attendance expressed opposition to the levy. Councilor Jim Crews made a motion to table the issue at that meeting but the motion died due to lack of a second. Councilor Robin Holcomb then made a motion to remove the item from the budget indefinitely. But that motion failed when the council split on the vote and the mayor broke the tie. The Council then dropped the discussion and the matter was carried over to the next council meeting.
At the last Thursday’s meeting, Councilor Bill Perrin immediately made a motion to table the permissive levy issue. He said there was a lot of misunderstanding about the issue. He said people were connecting the increased cost for a 50/50 cost share for hearing and vision coverage for employees with the issue of the permissive levy which was not being funded. He emphasized that the levy, if passed, would not raise taxes at this time.
“The thought was to put it in place for the future,” said Perrin. He said that there was no pressing need to put it in place right now and that it could be brought up in the future at any time.
Mayor Gene Mim Mack clarified that the permissive levy had not been part of the budget, as was assumed at the last meeting. He said it is not put into the budget until it is adopted. He said that he supported tabling the issue at this point because of the “significant” dispute that the issue precipitated. He said there were more pressing issues to concentrate on, such as consideration of a cost of living hike in the sewer and water rates, repaving sidewalks and street maintenance and the EA for the airport runway re-paving.
One audience member suggested that the levy should not be tabled but voted down. The Mayor responded, saying that no council could restrict future councils from considering a matter, so tabling it for now would amount to the same thing.
Councilor Crews offered an amendment to table the issue until the next fiscal year. That motion was seconded and then approved on a 4-0 vote.
The Council also approved setting up an ad hoc Executive Compensation Advisory Committee to study and make recommendations concerning the mayor’s compensation. The current mayor gets an honorarium stipend of $400 per month and a salary of $1,200 a month. The arrangement has been controversial with several members of the public expressing opposition. The committee will consist of six members. Each of the Town Councilors will appoint a member of the public to serve on the committee and the Council as a whole will appoint two Council members to serve on the committee. These appointments will be made at the next council meeting and the committee will begin examining the mayor’s workload and discuss adequate compensation.
Councilor Crews offered an amendment to the motion, requiring that the two council members selected to serve on the board come from different wards so that both wards are equally represented. That amendment was approved unanimously and the motion to set up the committee was also approved unanimously.
The Council approved on second reading an ordinance creating and adopting part of the Uniform Building Code for the Abatement of Dangerous Buildings into the municipal code. The issue came up when the Town was made aware of a lawsuit brought by Stevensville Hardware Store owner Phil Henderson against the Stevensville Playhouse claiming that the theater building constitutes a threat to public safety due to a wall that is bulging and could collapse.
The new ordinance gives the Town the authority to require repairs or even condemn and demolish a building if it is determined that it constitutes a public safety hazard. The ordinance will go into effect in 30 days from the passage of the second reading which was approved on September 11.
The council approved signing the contract with the state for a grant of $750,000 from the Treasure State Endowment Program for improvements to the wastewater treatment plant. This is one grant among others funding this $3.8 million project. 75% of the cost is being funded through grants. About $800,000 is being funded by a bond.