Columbia City Manager gets pay raise; city council approves neighborhood plan

The Columbia City Council approved a new neighborhood association plan, as well as approved raising the city manager’s salary.

City Manager Mike Matthes left the room for the discussion Monday night to raise his base salary to $165,000. The bill attached to the city’s website for the issue said it would raise the salary from a base of $150,000 for Matthes. Third Ward Councilman Karl Skala pointed out that Matthes had received previous, smaller raises, along with all city staff, for several years, putting his current salary at around $157,000. Skala said the pay increase would not be so drastic as the attached bill made it seem, and that it brought Matthes to the pay midpoint for a city manager when stacked against comparable cities.

Mayor Bob McDavid said the city needed to stay competitive in paying employees. A national search for a city manager could cost around $100,000, he said. The council passed the pay raise unanimously.

The council’s Monday meeting also marked the end of a year-long process drafting the plan for the West Central Neighborhood Association. The area, bound by Broadway on the south, I-70 Drive SW to the north, Sexton Road and McBaine Avenue to the east and Stadium Boulevard to the east, houses more than 4,400 residents, according the city.

Community Development director Tim Teddy described the plan as a “road map” for the city to establish its priorities for handling projects there. Since September 2014, residents worked with staff to develop the plan, which specified “neighborhood character, land use and zoning and transportation and infrastructure.” The neighborhood boasts many “bungalow” style homes, as well as Worley and Again Street Parks.

While the neighborhood plan is not a binding document, Teddy said staff members in charge of development and planning will consider it when requests for new development or zoning come to their offices. Many residents called for the preservation of the single-family residence “feel” of the neighborhood, and focus on installing sidewalks to make the area more walkable. However, some people felt the plan ignored long-standing infrastructure issues there, such as overburdened sewers near Again Street Park.

“One way or the other, we’ll see how this goes in five years,” Christine Gardner, a person living in the neighborhood said. She also pointed out that at previous planning meetings, other neighbors said it would be up to them to measure the effectiveness of the plan in keeping the “character” it hoped to preserve.