Monessen considers replacement for fines

By KRISTIE LINDEN

klinden@yourmvi.com

Monessen council is expected to discuss an ordinance that would seek accountability from its members without fining them as an existing ordinance does.

Instead of fining council members for missed meetings, the proposed ordinance would call for structuring the financial stipends members receive in such a way that they would be based on meetings attended. If someone misses a meeting and it isn’t considered an excused absence, they wouldn’t be paid that month.

The ordinance was presented at the August voting meeting, but was tabled when Councilwoman Lois Thomas asked where it came from because she believed council decided as a whole in June to sit together during a work session to figure out how to best write the law to ensure accountability.

Solicitor Tim Witt said he drafted the ordinance, but Thomas and Councilman Tony Orzechowski said they hadn’t seen it before the meeting because August’s workshop meeting was canceled.

“We said we were going to look at this and decide how we wanted this to read as a council,” Thomas said. “We did, at the last meeting we said we were going to meet as a council and change it together.”

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