Feb. 27—EAST GRAND FORKS — The East Grand Forks City Council on Tuesday evening discussed the city’s mayoral and City Council salaries.

It’s been more than 16 years since the council and mayor last got a pay increase. Council member Tim Riopelle brought the topic for discussion at the meeting. The council didn’t take action on it, but members were amendable to the idea of increasing their salaries.

“I just think it’s time to bring it up. We always deal with cost-of-living adjustments (and) we deal with increases in salary and wages to be in line with others,” Riopelle said. ” I think looking at (his proposal) we could probably go the route and still be comfortable with it.”

East Grand Forks council members earn $6,000 a year and the mayor $9,600. Under Riopelle’s proposal, council salaries would increase to $9,600 a year, the council president to $12,000 and the mayor to $14,000.

Under the current city charter, council members must vote to give themselves a salary increase. Council member Clarence Vetter doesn’t love the idea.

“My personal thoughts: I look at state-level legislators and federal legislators (and) it really bothers me that they vote for their own raises,” Vetter said. “I think something like this should be a vote to the citizens.”

Council member Brian Larson echoed that point.

“Of course, naturally, it’s an awkward thing to vote for a pay raise for yourself and that’s certainly not why they want us in these roles,” Larson said. “I think it would be interesting to consider putting this in place after the next election.”

No formal action was taken. If the council does approve a pay raise, it wouldn’t likely go into effect until January. Riopelle also wants the council to revisit it more often than once every two decades.

City staff presented data from a League of Minnesota Cities salary survey. There were 14 Minnesota cities shown, and the most similar in population, city size, location, and council make-up were Detroit Lakes, Little Falls, Thief River Falls, Hermantown and Crookston.

Of those councils, East Grand Forks is right in the middle in terms of the size of the council, at seven members. Minus Hermantown, which is a four-person at-large council, all the councils are a mix of wards and at-large members, with between seven and nine members. Out of these councils, East Grand Forks meets the most, at four times a month; the average number of meetings was 1.8 meetings a month between the five other councils.

The average mayoral compensation was $9,227, but ranged between $7,600 and $10,800. The average council compensation was $7,100, ranging between $6,000 and $9,600.

The proposal would bring East Grand Forks compensation more in line with other cities, especially those that are larger and are part of larger metropolitan areas. Of the cities on the list provided, only Moorhead and Hermantown are part of metropolitan areas. East Grand Forks would fall between them under the proposal.

East Grand Forks elected officials would still be making less than their counterparts across the river in Grand Forks. The mayor of Grand Forks earns $41,820.74 a year and council members $19,150.56.

“The number of meetings that we attend outside of council for your committees that you’re on and other special meetings, I think when it comes down to it and the amount of information that goes before us, it’s a good thing that we maybe take a little jump at this,” Riopelle said.

In other news, the council:

*

Discussed the Quiet Zone project and potential additional funding

opportunities that the Minnesota Department of Transportation has for the project. The council has received bids for the project but hasn’t accepted them yet.

* Discussed city deer and the possibility of instituting a special archery deer hunt. The council was amendable to the idea, given the number of complaints the city has received.

* Recommended the approval of a joint power agreement with the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources for the Red River State Recreation Area. The new agreement is for four years and closely resembles previous ones.