Aragon waiting on City Council raises

As the city of Aragon gets ready for an election year with the upcoming municipal elections to fill a trio of seats on the council, one thing is for certain: raises for those positions will have to wait.

Mayor Garry Baldwin said the council can’t move forward with providing raises since voters will be going to the polls in November. He cited statewide rules on the issue before recommended to the council they vote to table the raises until January 2018.

Baldwin brought up the issue itself earlier in the year with the hopes that with support from the council itself, the raises would give incentive to attract new candidates to seek spots on the council.

Its a problem that has popped up in recent years as the city has been forced to reopen qualifying to find potential candidates to fill council seats.

Baldwin’s hope that is even if the raises don’t directly benefit him or council members who currently hold seats, it will give those who are on the fence about running an extra incentive to do so.

Currently, council salaries are well below the average in other municipal governing boards, and qualifying fees are at $36, Baldwin has pointed out several times.

Qualifying for the seat held by Kelsey Collum — the lone candidate to take over the seat held by Duel Mitchell following his resignation in January — finds the incumbent as thus far the lone candidate to remain in place.

A second seat left open by the resignation of former council member Tammy Mulkey was later filled by Judson Fee, and two more joined the race last week ahead of the end of qualifying.

Amy Causey and Linda Hilburn qualified for seats on the council as well. Current council member Hunter Spinks chose not to run for a new term on the council after he filled the seat late last year left open by Kevin Prewett.