Lake Santeetlah – Just a couple of weeks removed from agreeing to hire a new zoning administrator, the town moved forward with finalizing the paperwork.
At a special called meeting on Aug. 24, council members discussed Bryan Farley’s contract.
“This transition that we’re going through is probably the most important, long-term decision that we’ll be making,” council member Roger Carlton said. “At our last meeting, we had Bryan on, and I think he qualified himself quite well.”
Farley is an MAI – Member Appraisal Institute – appraiser. Carlton added his thoughts on a “critical” item missing from the contract, which was later tacked onto the contract.
The motion was approved 3-2 by the Lake Santeetlah Town Council. Predmore and the newest council member – Kevin Haag – were the dissenting votes.
“I have no concerns about his ethics whatsoever, but I do have concerns that when he’s doing appraisals. His response was that he doesn’t do a lot of residential appraisals; mostly commercial,” Carlton said. “At the end of the day, I think this agreement should have a clause that says that if he concludes that he has a conflict – or if somebody makes the accusation that there is a conflict – that the conflict should go to the town attorney for resolution.”
“I think we should leave it to the man’s professional judgment,” Predmore countered. “We can’t do ‘what if’ for every situation. I don’t think we need it (the added stipulation); we depend on the guy’s professional ability, and that’s what we’re paying him for.”
Council member Diana Simon posed a question about the job being put out for bid. Gulden confirmed that since Farley will be serving the town as an independent contractor, there was no need for a bidding process.
Simon also questioned the $100-an-hour rate Farley will be paid for court appearances. Mayor Jim Hager and Predmore both said that rate is actually low.
The contract required a budget amendment of $6,000, which leaves the general reserves at $26,135.32 after the line-item transfer.
The town also approved a reimbursement of $40 per month for both Town Administrator Kim Matheson and town clerk Emily Hooper, for cell phone usage.