Some snippets of things said at the March 1 Gulfport City Council meeting.
Adobe Stock.
The most lively discussion at the Mar. 1 Gulfport City Council meeting occurred when the council changed course on a proposed pay raise for the mayor and council. Currently, Gulfport pays its mayor $14,400 annually and other councilmembers $10,800 per year. Council voted 3-2 to raise those levels to $20,000 and $15,000, respectively, after approving pay levels of $18,000 and $13,500 at its Feb. 15 meeting.
“So when you have an ordinance and you haven’t locked in the money to begin with and you all go out on recess and come back… a cynic might think ‘oh gosh, maybe they got all their ducks in a row back in the back room’.” —Lee Stapella on Council changing numbers on pay raises after a recess
“Is that a formal accusation?” —Mayor Sam Henderson, to Stapella
“No, I said hypothetically a cynic might consider when you disappear out of the public view and come back with different number that the ordinance is no longer a single subject ordinance [and] it might require third reading.” —Stapella, answering Henderson and suggesting a need for another reading and vote on the pay raise at the next meeting
“Captain Lundh, I enjoyed my recess speaking to you out back.” Henderson, to Gulfport Fire Captain James Lundh, in response to Stapella’s comment
“I’d rather just leave it where it is.” —Councilmember Paul Ray (Ward III) on his opposition to raising the council and mayor’s pay
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