Tag: meeting schedule

Vote center study committee for Monroe County digs into work at first meeting

Vote center study committee members clockwise from about the 2:30 spot: Ilana Stonebraker (short dark hair with glasses), Stacy Kowalczyk, Evan Anish Nayee, Hal Turner, Danny Shields, William Ellis, Taylor Bryant, Debora (Ralf) Shaw, Daniella Wheelock. Deputy clerk Kylie Moreland is seated next to Wheelock. Not in the photo are Steve Volan who arrived after the photo was taken, and Ami Gandhi, who attended a portion of the meeting via the Zoom video conference platform.

On Thursday evening, an 11-member voter center study committee for Monroe County met for the first time.

Vote centers are different from the kind of precinct-based polling locations currently used by Monroe County. For a precinct-based polling site, only voters from specified precincts can cast a ballot there.

Vote centers are polling places where a voter who is registered in any precinct can cast a ballot.

The committee’s job is to put together a vote center plan, with the number and locations for the voter centers to be used in Monroe County. That plan would need a unanimous vote by the three-member county election board, in order to be adopted.

A vote center system for Monroe County is not expected to be implemented in time for the 2024 election cycle. But based on Thursday’s meeting, committee members are not looking to dawdle.

They elected officers—Ilana Stonebraker as chair, Taylor Bryant as vice chair, and Ralf Shaw as secretary. They also set a schedule that calls for an every-other-Wednesday pattern, with the next meeting set for Jan. 3.

The committee also started mulling the kind of information and data that they would be asking that county staff to assemble, to inform the committee’s work on the vote center plan.

Supporting the committee in its work will be deputy clerk Kylie Moreland. Continue reading “Vote center study committee for Monroe County digs into work at first meeting” →

Monroe County commissioners ask to be paid $18K more, on par with other electeds: $67,158

On the agenda for the Tuesday, Dec. 14 meeting of the Monroe County council is a request from the three county commissioners to increase their 2022 salary from the amount approved two weeks earlier.

This is a request to be considered by Monroe County councilors at their Dec. 14 meeting.

The requested adjustment to the already-approved 2022 salary ordinance would increase commissioner pay from $48,886 to $67,158. That’s about 37 percent more.

If the county council grants the request next Tuesday, that would make for about an 87 percent increase for county commissioner compensation, over the two years from 2020 to 2022.

Commissioners received a $10,000 increase from 2020 to 2021, which pushed their annual compensation from $36,000 to $46,000. Continue reading “Monroe County commissioners ask to be paid $18K more, on par with other electeds: $67,158” →