EDITOR:

Recently I read with interest a front page article in the Daily News about the City Council of the City of Iron Mountain considering a ballot measure addressing pay for its City Council members. Several months ago, I also read about the Dickinson County Board of Commissioners grappling with the same issue.

How much should our local elected officials be paid for their services while in office? There is no question that they should receive fair compensation for the essential and mostly thankless work that they do while in office.

My reason for addressing this issue is to suggest a better, more efficient and fair way to handle the matter on a responsible regular basis. The City of Kingsford dealt with this issue back in the 1980s.

Following the wise advice of then City Attorney John McNeil, the City Council adopted an ordinance establishing a Local Officer’s Compensation Commission, provided by Michigan state law, consisting of five appointed local residents (with expiring terms) that would meet from time to time as needed to review and make determinations regarding the compensation for the elected officials. If the local elected body does not agree with the determinations, they can reject them, according to the Ordinance.

While the details of how this works are too voluminous to include in this letter, I would urge anyone who is interested to obtain a copy and read the City of Kingsford’s Local Officer’s Compensation Commission ordinance. I believe it has worked well for the taxpayers of the City of Kingsford and is a much better way to deal with the issue than for periodic ballot proposals or otherwise.

Darryl K. Wickman

Kingsford