MOUNT VERNON – The Mount Vernon City Council dropped the suggested salary range for the open assistant law director position and instead set the salary at $59,000 during its Oct. 11 meeting.
The city administration had proposed a $7,000 salary range for the position, leaving it up to Law Director Rob Broeren, Human Resources Director Maurine Perry and Safety-Services Director Rick Dzik to set the salary within that range. But City Council didn’t want to give up that control and told them the administration could always come back to them if a higher salary was needed.
“I would like to discuss the possibility of setting a specific wage or salary here, and then allowing Mr. Broeren the opportunity to interview candidates, to see if there's the need for additional salary here that he could come back to council,” Councilmember Samantha Scoles said.
The city’s consultants with Clemans Nelson had said that the salary for the second assistant law director and other positions needed to be higher to meet market rates. Broeren said few applicants contacted the city when the salary was set at $50,000.
Justin Mackin accepted the job in March, but he left after just six months to work as an assistant prosecuting attorney in Columbus.
Councilmember Mike Hillier said he could agree to the $59,000 salary.
The administration will know about the applicant before the interview, Hillier said. The council has agreed to keep Mondays open on their calendars for meetings, Hillier said. A meeting could be called to ask council for a salary change if necessary.
The assistant law director II ordinance was pushed forward to its third reading and approved with the amendment setting the salary. But other ordinances that would have set a compensation model for non-bargaining employees and set salary ranges for the assistant city engineer, engineering project manager, public utilities director and assistant public utilities director were given first readings.
Cooper Progress Park, Shellmar rezoned
Council approved an ordinance to rezone Cooper Progress Park and Shellmar to Planned Commercial Development District. The rezoning will give businesses wanting to locate on the properties more flexibility. Cooper Progress Park would have an association that manages and maintains common areas and parking lots.
Tax break on renovations for homeowners
At Hillier’s request, council will hold another committee meeting in two weeks to discuss an ordinance that would establish a Community Reinvestment Area in Mount Vernon. If approved on Oct. 25, homeowners could get a tax abatement on the property value increase created by renovating their homes. Multi-family properties also would be eligible in the program.
The average home in Mount Vernon was built in 1973. The city can’t build itself out of this situation, said Sam Filkins, vice president of the Knox County Area Development Foundation. Property owners participate in a "musical chairs" scenario, where they can move up and move around in purchasing homes, but somebody is always left out, he said.
“What we're trying to do is both build and renovate,” Filkins said.
The tax abatement on a home’s increased value is intended to incentivize making renovations.
“We need people to invest in the neighborhoods, all across the city, but some need it more than others. So we've scaled it appropriately,” he said.
Residential renovations have been scaled to qualify for up to 75% in abatements, with multifamily dwellings qualified for 100% tax abatements on the property improvement values.
