[6/26/03]Vicksburg’s mayor and two aldermen will receive their first automatic 5 percent pay increase next month after voting themselves the largest raises in the city’s history last year.

City officials signed off on the raises during the closed portion of their meeting Wednesday although the raises were included in the city ordinance change and did not require any board action. City human resource director Lamar Horton said after the meeting that the forms were presented to the board during executive session along with other employee raises to provide paperwork to the city’s payroll department.

Horton later agreed that the matter should have been done during open session to avoid any appearance of impropriety. The personnel action forms require signatures from at least two of the three elected board members, so none of the three signed their own raise authorizations.

The increase moves Mayor Laurence Leyens’ salary to $73,500 and North Ward Alderman Gertrude Young’s and South Ward Alderman Sid Beauman’s to $58,800 each. Before raises were adopted last year, their salaries were $56,532 and $45,492 respectively, meaning the mayor is now making $17,000 more than when elected and the aldermen are making $13,300 more.

The amendment to the city ordinance approved last year gives the mayor and aldermen a 5 percent raise at the beginning of the second and third years of each new administration. Under the provisions of the ordinance, the aldermen will be paid $71,472 a year and the mayor $89,340 by 2012.

In other matters, the city board:

Approved board minutes from May 19.

Declared July 4 a holiday for city employees.

Set a public hearing for July 21 for a rezoning variance for property on Porters Chapel Road.

Set an appeal from the Zoning Board for Aug. 18 for a billboard on Bowmar Avenue near Drummond Street.

Awarded a $38,000 contract to Dillon Construction for painting and general repairs to Central Fire Station.

Approved final payment to Dillon Construction for exterior restoration of the Constitution Firehouse.

Amended the contract with engineers Canizaro, Cawthon and Davis for specification for the removal of asbestos materials from the former Levee Street Depot.

Approved advertising for Haven House Family Shelter and St. Aloysius High School, but denied an advertising request from Delta Business Journal.

Approved the subdivision plat for Savannah Hills off Indiana Avenue. Plans call for 13 homes costing around $200,000 each in the new development.

Approved a $35,000 allocation to the Southern Cultural Heritage Center subject to the appropriate paperwork.

Authorized payment of $104,563 to Warren County for matching funds on the Adams and Cherry streets bridge projects.

Entered an agreement with the Mississippi Department of Transportation for maintenance of the lights on Interstate 20. The state will provide the bulbs, fuses and ballasts and will pay the city $200 per fixture annually to replace the lights in Vicksburg.

Authorized preparation and submittal of an application to the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality for funding under the 2004 Household Hazardous Waste Grant program.

Denied a request from Rogers-Usry to place temporary signs in the right-of-way on Clay Street near Vicksburg Factory Outlets for a special sale.

Adopted an amendment to the city codes exempting the public school district from late fees for utilities.

The city board will meet again at 10 a.m. July 7 at City Hall Annex.