CALLAWAY — It’s not about the money, but the principle.
City Commissioner Bob Pelletier is ready to take former City Manager Marcus Collins to small claims court so the city can recover $865.
“It doesn’t matter if it’s $100 or $800,” Pelletier said.
But instead of suing, the commission voted 4-1, with Melba Covey dissenting, to send a letter to Collins asking for justification for 20 hours of compensatory time that amounted to $865 and was paid in December 2013.
“I don’t think Mr. Collins is to blame here,” Mayor Thomas Abbott said.
Abbott served as mayor when Collins asked for 10 hours of administrative leave in September 2013. Abbott, Commissioner Ralph Hollister and former Commissioner David Otano approved the administrative leave in emails, which were part of the commission agenda. Commissioner Pamn Henderson said she did not approve the time.
Separate from administrative leave, Collins also took 20 hours of compensatory pay. City Clerk Sandy Hirth said that as of Tuesday night’s City Commission meeting, she had not found records of the commission approving the comp pay and it was not included in Collins’ personnel folder. However, Pelletier cited the city personnel manual that exempt employees are not afforded comp time.
Abbott offered that the commission could have approved the time mistakenly. Before he resigned in April 2014, Collins also was serving as human resources manager.
“We need to learn from this,” Abbott said of a possible error in human resources.
Covey, in a rare disagreement with fellow new commissioner Pelletier, said the city should let the matter go.
“I feel like y’all gave him a clean walk,” she said.
New meeting schedule: The commission also approved changing the commission meeting to one per month on the fourth Tuesday with a corresponding workshop the day before; commissioners currently meet two meetings a month.
Part of the justification for the change is speeding up regular meeting times; the meeting Tuesday night went for three-and-a-half hours. The commission approved a corresponding resolution limiting public comment to 3 minutes. Citizens would be able to comment on each item at workshop meetings but only once for three minutes at the beginning of the regular meetings. Commissioners agreed to hold all discussion in the workshop.
Callaway would be one of two cities in the county to not hold two regular meetings a month. Springfield is the other, with a meeting the first Monday and then a workshop on the third.
“There are advantages to this,” Commissioner Ralph Hollister said. “Sandy (Hirth) won’t constantly be in agenda and meetings mode. The city manager won’t have to worry about an agenda every two weeks.”