SPRINGVILLE — Springville city councilors are speaking out on Mayor Dave Thomas’ behavior during recent council meetings, saying his actions are “wasting our time” and show “a lack of respect.”
Thomas has spent the last two council meetings delaying city business in an effort to readdress the issue of elected officials’ salaries ahead of this year’s municipal election.
The council already voted to increase salaries by about 10%, setting the next administration’s pay at $30,800 for the mayor, $715 a month for the mayor pro-tem, and $660 for council members during its Jan. 22 meeting.
Thomas, however, reintroduced the issue at the Feb. 17 meeting, claiming the increase does not compensate enough for inflation, and proposed to further increase pay to $45,000 for the mayor and $1,000 a month for councilors.
After council members objected to revisiting the matter and Thomas prevented the council to proceed to the next item on the agenda, city councilors walked out and the meeting ended.
During the council’s March 3 meeting, Thomas held the floor for 55 minutes, prolonging the meeting all while criticizing the council, before eventually moving on to city business that had been not been addressed at the previous meeting.
This is not the first time the mayor has held up city business in this fashion–last year he took similar action when trying to establish a new department to manage the Big Canoe Creek Nature Preserve.
“I think it’s showing a lack of respect for the council in what we do and our time and the time of the people that are in the audience,” Councilor David Vinson said.
“I think we’re there for a purpose, we’re there to take care of business, not listen to all that nonsense.”
Vinson added that with how many projects and needs there are in the city, they cannot afford to delay council business this way.
“We’re not gonna be bullied into something. We’re trying to do the right thing for the city, none of us are there for money,” Vinson said. “We all care about our city and love our city and want to do the right thing, it’s just we shouldn’t have to be subjected to hours of rambling and nonsense. To me that’s not a way to conduct a meeting”
He also added that in all his years attending city council meetings in multiple cities, he has “never seen a mayor do anything remotely close to this.”
“He’s criticized us, he’s said in open meetings that he plans on having somebody run against us, he’s actively seeking people out to run against us,” Vinson said.
“I just don’t think that’s the place to campaign at, I think that’s the place to take care of business. We’re not there to campaign, we’re there to do what we were voted in for and take care of city business in the most efficient way we can. I don’t like to have to just sit for hours.”
Mayor Pro-Tem Katrina Hennings said, “I just feel that myself and we as the council are doing the best that we can under the situation that we’re having to conduct our meetings in every week.”
“I personally don’t appreciate it because he’s not only taking up our time and wasting time, he’s also wasting the time of the city.”
She later added, “Regardless of him sitting there and wasting our time, we are gonna continue to conduct business and do the best that we can.”
After the Feb. 17 meeting, Hennings said she also called department heads to see if a special meeting needed to be called to address city business that had been delayed and could harm the city if not brought before the council.
“We don’t know what Monday’s meeting is gonna hold. We’re just gonna have to continue to try to do the best we can with what we’re working with,” she added.
Despite their struggles, council members also stated they hope they can work with the mayor to get city business done, but not if his behavior continues.
“I would like to work with him, I’d like for the council to work with him, I’d like for us to get along and get business done, but we should not have to sit through hours of filibustering because he’s not getting what he wants,” Vinson said.
“We are trying to work with our situation and do the best that we can to still accomplish and do the business for the city and take care of items without him holding us up. Even if we have to sit there and wait or leave a meeting or whatever, our most important thing is to make sure that we do get it taken care of,” Hennings said.
Here is the City of Springville's council meeting from Monday night.
(Courtesy of Trussville Tribune)
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