Scoop: Des Moines considers tying council pay with attendance
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Councilperson pay could be tied to meeting attendance under a policy being developed by Des Moines' legal team, four City Council members tell Axios.
Why it matters: Council workshops and meetings are where significant discussions and decisions around taxpayer dollars are made.
- Multiple neighborhood groups contend the chronic absences of their elected representative, councilperson Indira Sheumaker, have effectively silenced them.
Catch up fast: Sheumaker's attendance became an issue shortly after she took office in January 2022.
- She released a statement that July saying she was suffering from COVID-19 and depression.
- Since March 6 of this year, she has missed all 18 council meetings or workshops.
State of play: DSM does not have an attendance policy in place for council members.
- Iowa courts can remove elected officials for "habitual neglect," but the rarely used law can be cumbersome to pursue, Dustin Miller, a metro area attorney and former general counsel for the Iowa League of Cities, tells Axios.
- And most council members have previously told Axios they do not support a city-initiated effort to remove Sheumaker from her position through the court system.
Yes, but: The city is drafting a policy to incentivize meeting attendance, council members Connie Boesen, Josh Mandelbaum, Linda Westergaard and Carl Voss tell us. Each supports the concept.
- Councilperson Joe Gatto declined to comment and Mayor Frank Cownie did not respond to our questions.
- Sheumaker has not responded to Axios' requests for comment.
What they're saying: The details are uncertain but one concept being drafted is a per-meeting incentive that would be tied to the council's annual compensation, Voss says.
- The policy likely wouldn't go into effect until after the current terms of council members have expired — some of which are through 2025, per Mandelbaum.
Of note: Sheumaker didn't respond to the city manager's offer last year to provide accommodations that would help her attend meetings.
- His office has had no communications with her on any topic since early March, city manager Scott Sanders tells Axios.