CREEDE— A petition for Ordinance 356 is going around Creede this week.

John Mattingly has set out to get enough signatures to take the petition to the town and ensure that future pay increases for the mayor and town board members be decided by the people of the town in an election.

He wants to make sure it is understood that he is not currently raising an issue about what the board members should be paid, just about the process for handling increases.

Mattingly feels that the voters in Creede should all have a say in the amount the mayor and the board are paid.

At the Nov. 10 meeting when the board passed pay increases, Mattingly recalls that five people were there to express their views on the matter. Not enough, in his opinion, to represent the people of Creede. He wants to make sure that for the board members to get a raise they will have to tell the citizens and justify the amount to them.

The petition covers all future pay raises and includes the latest approved raise that has not yet taken effect. Once the town has the petition the board will have time to review it and decide if they want to approve the ordinance. They will have a vote on the matter and the mayor would, at that point, have time to decide if he would use his ability to veto the ordinance even if the board has approved it. If it were vetoed it would then be put before the people to decide in an election.



For the complete article see the 01-28-2010 issue.

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