November 18—Ashland City Manager Joe Lessard stated that the decision to terminate health insurance coverage for municipal Council members and the mayor is linked to a wider upheaval since the creation of his job.
“It’s an interesting time; it’s kind of like this transition has raised a number of issues, and it’s just one of them that has come up that’s very unexpected,” he said. -he declares.
“The charter is a legal document that we must abide by – myself, the council, everyone who works for the public good must abide by it. We must have a clear understanding of what it allows us to do and what ‘she does’ doesn’t allow us to do,” he said.
That clear understanding is lacking, getting a little murkier as Lessard and acting city attorney Doug McGeary continue the examination of the charter.
If you look at Section Three of Article Three of the Ashland City Charter, Lessard said, it talks about elected officials’ compensation.
“The provision states that any change in the amount of this indemnity received by elected officials, except the clerk and the municipal judge, will be subject to a vote of the people,” he said.
He interprets this text as a mandate which from Ashland residents must approve elected officials’ compensation. A look back at past municipal budgets shows that health care benefits are listed as social benefits. The line referring to the remuneration of elected officials is separate. But the benefits are a form of compensation, he said.
Advisors say they were told in August they would have to start paying for their health insurance, which had previously been offered for free. Then, in October, Lessard told them that they would lose their benefits entirely in December.
“It’s a question of what the voters allowed, and we’re trying to verify that, and the information we have right now is insufficient. We’re trying to do some research to answer that question,” Lessard said.
Dating back to some time in the 1960s, there was a document codifying benefits for the council. Mayor Julie Akin said she had done some work to try to understand the legality of revoking board benefits based on this document. But although the existence of the document is known and referenced elsewhere, the source document itself is missing.
Go to Mail Tribune journalist Morgan Rothborne at [email protected] or 541-776-4487. Follow her on Twitter @MRothborne.
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