FOLEY, Alabama – With an impending format change coming at the end of the year, City Administrator Mike Thompson spoke to City Council members about new salary requirements for a new government structure at a work session Monday afternoon.
“This is really kind of the first step in our change of government,” Thompson said. “Over the course of this year, we’ll be talking more about different changes. We’re actually in pretty good shape so far.”
Because the city has crossed a population threshold of 12,000 residents in the 2010 census, state law requires Foley to move from what is called a “strong mayor, weak council” government to a “strong council, weak mayor” format.
The city’s 2012 redistricting plan shows five voting districts with a total population of 14,611. The city will adopt the new council format in November.
“Currently, we are working under the ‘strong mayor, weak council’ format, according to state guidelines,” Thompson said. From ‘strong mayor, weak council’ to ‘strong council, weak mayor, it better defines the legislative and executive duties.”
Under the new form of government, the mayor will no long have a vote in or preside over regular meetings and the council will appoint a council president and a president pro tempore.
“Under the new form of government, the mayor would have a veto mechanism,” Thompson said. “In the future, although the mayor won’t vote or preside, if he has concern over something the council takes a vote on, he has veto. If he were to do that, the council can override veto. That’s basically the difference.”
The council set salaries for the new positions by Feb. 28, which is something the city government is required to do every four years. Some municipalities pay council members based on meeting attendance and “training levels,” Thompson said.
Several local governments in Mobile and Baldwin Counties have transition to the same style of government in the past few years. His office has its eye on surrounding municipalities in the hopes of avoiding mishaps, Thompson said.
“We’re hoping to avoid growing pains. I feel really confident that we will,” Thompson said. “We’ll likely make some minor modifications to modifications to the council chambers but we’ll address that when the time comes closer.”
