Let's clear things up here
AmyJean Fry
Hey Neighbors:
I received an email today asking about the process and procedures regarding vote 16 and Town Council Compensation. I ended up writing a whole thesis, so I figured I should just share this with all of you 😂.
I also understand that some council members are stating that the Town Council is being "fiscally irresponsible". I take my job representing my neighbors very seriously. I take my fiduciary duty to the town even more seriously. I find the accusation of being "fiscally irresponsible" and the vote "nay" on policies that help neighbors and/or keep the Town in good financial standing purely political. One can vote "nay" to appear "fiscally responsible" when one knows the policies necessary will still pass by the members of the body who have the courage to make those tough decisions. Voting NAY is NOT fiscally responsible. If anything, that is FISCALLY IRRESPONSIBLE and inauthentic.
You may have heard that there will be a new public work building. This will be a 2 story building that will provide community areas/spaces for our different organizations like girl scouts, cub scouts, youth council, Cheverly village, etc. Sadly, the Town has been planning for this building as soon as the police building was paid off for over a decade but did nothing to save for this project. The good news is that we have been able to get a grade A bond rating due to the hard work of our Town Staff and luckily, CM McCann along with the Mayor and our Town Administrator worked very hard with our State Senator and Delegates to apply for earmarks for this project. We are hopeful that we will get some state funding for this project and are excited about more facilities our community can use.
With development all around us, Town staff and most of the town council are working hard to build every relationship we can to see how we can increase our commercial base to alleviate the tax burden off our residents. This however means being fully staffed in all our departments (which we were not before and is the only reason we ever had a fund balance), keeping our fund balance healthy, and showing potential annexation projects that we can accommodate that growth. With our current public services, community events and offerings, and police department services, constant yield puts the town in the red. (PLEASE READ THAT SENTENCE AGAIN) Just to drive the point home, the only reason this hasn't been an issue prior is that our departments were not fully staffed. We are aimed at being fully staffed this year, including our police department (which the Chief spoke to about challenges during the policing discussion held at Townhall on March 13, 2021). We are currently in budget discussions for the town so I am happy to bring any concerns you have forward or if you'd like to attend, the links are all on the website.
Long term, the vision we are executing is in line with the Strategic Plan. My approach to many of my decisions is to ensure that the Town and future councils are set up for success. This is through policies that make our procedures transparent and fiscally responsible value-based budgeting. While it may have worked to kick the can down the road 10 years ago, so many of the hard decisions I have to make now are because of some of those decisions or lack thereof. I have to weigh all the needs and priorities with future development and plans, and it is never easy but I am committed to hearing what our neighbors desire as well as what their concerns are.
In regards to not feeling informed about Vote 16 and Town Council Compensation and the process of how it came about, I want to provide some background.
In a newsletter I shared on October 28, 2022, via the Ward 6 Google Group (see that newsletter here), on page 4, I discuss that both topics of Town Council Compensation and Vote 16 legislation conversations would be happening in the new year. In that month's meeting, the only thing that passed was to have our town administration staff gather information so that we can have an informed conversation on both of these topics. No legislation or policies were passed and that is not something we would do without full community engagement. It is common that in work sessions we give directives to town staff for issues and policies that we want to discuss. I also shared information about the Vote 16 Town Forum requesting feedback and discussed compensation on February 6 in an email that I sent out to the google group.
Specific to Vote 16: There was a public forum in January on this topic. It was both virtual and in-person and had great engagement. The topic was brought up again at the March Town Meeting. It was NOT listed on the agenda but CM McCann had brought the topic up during future agenda items. It was in that conversation that CM Nettles moved to have our town staff provide policy draft language. Once the draft language is prepared, it will be presented to the Town Council AND community members in an official public hearing and should it be accepted, it still needs to go through a 3-reader process. NO LEGISLATION WAS PASSED during that meeting.
Specific to Town Council Compensation: In 2007, Town Council compensation was increased to $2400/annually for council members and $3600/annually for the Mayor (see here). Since then, this compensation has not been reviewed. Before 2007, compensation was not reviewed for "more than 20 years" according to this 2007 ordinance. The reason you are seeing it go from $2400 to $7000 is that it has not been reviewed for over 14 years. If the Town was reviewing things regularly, the jump would not be so startling. I think it is also quite startling that Towns like Colmar Manor, Bladensburg, and Mt. Rainier not just monetarily compensate their council but also provide phones, computers, and data coverage reimbursements on top of having much higher salaries than the $2400/annual compensation.
In my support for council compensations to be comparable to current market rates for municipalities our size, I believe it is important to have a policy that has town staff reviewing compensation regularly (my suggestion was every 5 years). This does not mean compensation will go up every review, only that a review happens regularly. As you know, this position is not just 2 meetings a month position, most of us spend many hours outside of meetings to ensure community engagement, build and bring resources to our community, and work hard to resolve issues our residents are facing. I think it is appropriate to be comparable to other jurisdictions
Just FYI, the next budget meeting is Thursday, March 23 at 5:30 PM. Our work session starts at 7:30 PM. You can find those agendas in News & Announcements on the website. https://www.cheverly-md.gov/node/1/news
I am always here to have conversations about what is before the Town Council or about issues/concerns/needs my neighbors have. I try very hard to send out information and although I missed a little bit around the holidays due to my workload at that time, I am very present for any conversation. I do my best to be honest with each conversation and each vote I put forward. I hope to be able to continue to do that for the next two years.
If you have any concerns, please note you can reach me at anytime 301-678-3796.