Letter to the Editor: Kudos to Newark City Council members who opposed 45% raise for mayor

Letter to the Editor: Kudos to Newark council members who opposed 45% raise for mayor, a public servant

How appropriate! On April Fools’ Day, Newark City Council President Jeff Harris and five other council members approved by a 6-5 vote a nearly 45% raise for the Newark mayor position.

Council members Bill Cost, Brad Chute, Beth Bline, Mike Houser and Dustin Neely voted against the unprecedented pay raise. Kudos to them!Councilman Chute said it best: "...The position of mayor should not be based solely on salary." I agree. The mayor is a public servant. The majority attempted to justify their votes of approval with traditional political gibberish. Councilman Doug Marmie uttered these claims: “I am a man of my word,“ and “ I say what I am going to do, and then do it.”Really? In an earlier email to me, Marmie said: “I am a servant of the City and the citizens I represent." That was followed by this gem: "We are not always right; that is why we listen to everyone. If we are not right the first time, we make adjustments.” Ha!

But my personal favorite was Marmie's statement to me in an email that he has "not seen any evidence that we (the council) made a mistake with the scoreboard purchase at the Don Edwards Park baseball complex. "Early indications are it is progressing well,” he wrote. What a crock!Don’t look now Councilman Marmie, but your pants are on fire. Lava bar soap was selected for your mouth washing.Councilman, you claim you have not seen any evidence, yet it has been provided to you in spades and on numerous occasions. When you were officially asked to investigate, you and your band of Merry Men couldn’t even muster enough guts to seek the truth regarding Service Director Dave Rhodes’ scoreboard fiasco.

Dave Froelich, Newark

This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Letter: Kudos to 5 Newark council members who opposed 45% mayor raise