Patterson council looks at, but doesn't touch, chief's pay, subdivision rules

PATTERSON -- Some days, every task is easy. And then, for the Patterson City Council, there was Tuesday.

The agenda for Tuesday's regular monthly meeting included discussion of a possible pay raise for Police Chief Garrett Grogan's next term if he wins re-election, and the introduction of proposed ordinances clarifying subdivision rules and creating a municipal cemetery.

But, after discussing the issues from many angles, the council and especially City Attorney Russel Cremaldi are going back to work on proposals for the March meeting.

Grogan, who won election as police chief in 2018, asked the council to consider the pay raise and was armed with figures from surrounding municipalities.

They showed that Grogan makes $54,000 per year, not counting $6,000 in annual supplemental pay from the state government.

Morgan City's chief makes $76,000, Berwick's $61,750 and Baldwin's $42,335, all excluding the $6,000 in annual supplemental pay.

Grogan's predecessor, Patrick LaSalle, was making $86,000 annually, the chief said. And Grogan now supervises at least one officer who makes more than Grogan does.

Grogan is asking the council to raise his base pay to $62,000-$65,000 during his next term, which would begin in January 2023. That raise would apply only tp Grogan if he's re-elected.

And that was a potential problem for attorney Cremaldi.

"I don't know any place that sets a salary that depends on who the chief is," Cremaldi said.

But Mayor Rodney Grogan, the chief's cousin, said that's the way the council takes into account a newly elected chief's age and experience.

Councilman Joe Russo said he approaches the question from a teacher's point of view, and teachers are paid according to a step schedule that grants fixed raises with each year of experience and additional educational attainment. Russo wondered whether a similar system could be established for the police chief.

The objection there is that the city charter requires the mayor and council to set the chief's salary.

A firm proposal will have to wait for a council consensus. The same is true for what was supposed to be an introductory ordinance on "flag lot" subdivision rules.

The rules governing the subdividing of property for development are designed in part to ensure that lots have access to a public road and to utilities. If the back portion of a lot is divided into a separate lot that doesn't have road frontage, it has to be connected to a public road with at least a thin strip of land.

The configuration resembles a flag on a pole. That new lot is the flag, and the thin strip is the pole.

Cremaldi came to the meeting with an ordinance clarifying Patterson's subdivision rules. That ordinance would have amended the rules to allow the "pole" strip to be either part of the new flag lot or to have a recorded, perpetual right of way across the front lot to the adjoining street and for access to utilities.

But the city government's new chief building officer, William Gil, said the parish's subdivision rules require the "pole" strip to be part of the new lot and not just a right of way.

And consulting engineer Melanie Caillouet of Providence Engineering, at the meeting to make her monthly report, stepped to the microphone to say she's seen problems with flog lot rights of way, including disputes over who fixes clogged sewer lines.

Councilman John Rentrop was also concerned about requirements for the width of the right of way.

The council didn't introduce the ordinance, the first step toward a public hearing and a final passage vote. Cremaldi will come back later with another version of the ordinance.

That's also true for another proposed ordinance, this one establishing a city cemetery on Williams Street tracts that already contains graves. Mayor Grogan said he wants the ordinance prepared by Cremaldi to include another nearby tract as part of the city cemetery.

Also Tuesday:

-The council was introduced to Gil, who worked in parish government planning and as a contractor. He became the city's chief building officer three weeks ago.

Gil said he hopes to expedite the building process with steps such as virtual permitting, database work and remote inspections.

"I want to help the public and help make it easier to build and remodel in Patterson," Gil told the council.

--Cremaldi administered the oath of office to Eric Stewart, who is the newest member of the Patterson Planning and Zoning Commission. Stewart succeeds his father, Cornelius Stewart, who resigned in January after serving on the commission for nearly three decades.

--The council approved a can shake fundraiser for the Patterson Volunteer Fire Department 9 a.m.-noon March 6 on Catherine Street.