The Gulf Shores City Council took a fresh look at several previously discussed topics Monday afternoon during its first work session of 2008. One of the key topics revisited was the roles of mayor and city administrator.

Mayor Billy Duke previously expressed concern that in absence of a city administrator the mayor’s position had become a full-time job with part-time compensation. Duke suggested at the time that council consider upgrading the mayor’s position to full-time and dissolving the position of city administrator rather than hiring a replacement for the spot vacated by Ernie Smith’s return to economic development.

Duke opened the topic on Monday looking at the situation from a different perspective, this time asking exclusively for review of the mayor’s role without respect to the role of city administrator.

“Being mayor is a full-time job with or without a city administrator,” Duke said. “All of us sitting here know for a fact that we didn’t get into this for the money.”

Councilman Steve Jones, who was first to respond, said his main concern was that someone might seek the position of mayor for the salary and not a calling to serve.

“When I first ran for office I felt it was what I was supposed to do; in fact, I didn’t even know the office [of councilman] came with a salary,” Jones said. “I’m just concerned if we’re not careful someone could run [for office] for the wrong reasons.”

Councilman Robert Craft focused on the area of city administrator. “The key to all of this is that we retain a qualified city administrator,” Craft said. Councilwoman Carolyn Doughty agreed. She noted that a less than satisfactory city administrator can be fired, but council would not have the power to require a full-time mayor to spend a single hour at city hall.

Councilman Joe Garris said he was in favor of reviewing the mayor’s role because he feels the city should support the mayor so that the person, whoever it is, can represent the city free of business interest.

City Attorney David Whetstone told council something they might consider looking at is creating a system that initiates a yearly pay increase for mayor and council on the basis of criteria such as the cost of living.

Jones quickly responded that if council looked at the creation of such a system, the mayor’s position should be the only office in consideration because of its unique requirements, compared to those of council and the approach should have nothing to do with population.

Near the end of the discussion members of council appeared to agree with Councilman Philip Harris that the real matter at hand was adequate compensation for mayor and council, not full-time or part-time status. However, Craft made the distinction of mayor. “The discussion needs to be about mayor only,” he said.

The salaries for mayor, mayor pro tem and council will all nearly double following the elections in August, as a result of action taken in 2007. The salary for mayor will double from $21,000 to $42,000 while the pay for mayor pro tem will double from $7,500 to $15,000, and council salaries will increase from $6,500 to $12,000.

Whatever council decides in the matter, changes must be enacted before a Feb. 26 deadline to be effective when the next administration term begins.