Certain Grambling tax payers became infuriated after being given the impression that their Council Members would not be charging $1,750 for the Special Called Meeting held August 17, 2010 and later learning the Council was indeed paid for it.
During that meeting, a citizen Rev. Allen voiced objection as to how much money the Council was being paid to hold an unnecessary meeting that he felt was a political ploy. In his opinion the matter of the Council’s complaint about Grambling Mayor Martha Andrus spending $7,760 on a municipal website could have been dealt with at the next Regular Meeting without costing the taxpayers an additional $1,750.
Grambling Council Member Roosevelt Bryant responded by saying: “Did anybody say we were charging for tonight? Who told you that we was charging for tonight?” said Bryant and a small uproar erupted shortly thereafter. A 2 minute video excerpt of these events is available by clicking here, and a DVD of the 50 minute long meeting is available to the public by contacting The Fount.
Despite Rev. Bryant’s comments, Council Members Edward Jones, Toby Bryan, Roy Jackson and Roosevelt Bryant himself were paid $350 each for attending that Special Called Meeting, and Council Member Alvin Bradley was paid $350 for just 9 minutes of attendance. The $350 checks each received on August 27, 2010 is in addition to their Regular Meeting pay.
According to Grambling ordinance, Special Meetings can be called for any reason by 3 Council Members or the Mayor, and each Council Member has a rare opportunity to be paid an extra $350 for each Special Meeting; unlike most all major municipalities in northern Louisiana which pay their aldermen a flat monthly salary no matter how many special council meetings are held. The Grambling Mayor does not get paid any additional monies for Special or Emergency Meetings.
At the time of this writing August 27, 2010 the Grambling Council held yet another Special Called Meeting regarding salary increases that were not reflected on paychecks issued that day. The official Minutes of that meeting are still pending.
Due to a low tax base that is not supported by much industry like a large major city, Grambling home property owners are amongst the highest taxed in Louisiana, and they are seeking relief where ever possible.
There is a high concentration of senior citizens on fixed incomes in Grambling and, the issues of city official/employee pay raises by the Council and the extra money that the Council gets paid for holding multiple meetings during a given month have become hot political issues during this campaign season. Voters go to the election polls October 2, 2010.
The only way to change Grambling’s ordinance to where the Council gets paid a flat monthly salary no matter how many special or emergency council meetings are held like surrounding cities, is for the Grambling Council itself to change that law.
Many citizens of Grambling believe it’s not likely the current Council will seek to change that law anytime soon because if they truly looked out for the best interest of Grambling’s fixed income seniors, they certainly could have changed that law by now. The Grambling Council held an unprecedented number of 18 Special Called Meetings in 2009 and was paid additional monies for each one.
It is for this reason that the Grambling Council’s total pay was close to the Councils of much larger tax-based cities like Monroe and Shreveport last year. Our previous article entitled “Grambling Council Strikes It Rich” provides a side-by-side public record comparison of aldermen pay for 11 municipalities in northern Louisiana including Grambling between Monroe and Shreveport.
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