Newly-elected City Council Member Julia Botel and veteran board member KaShamba Miller-Anderson asked the Riviera Beach board Monday night to get rid off a stipend paid to each board member.
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In 2015, the board voted to install the $1,000 monthly stipend as an incentive for all the extra work the board members were doing.
Miller-Anderson said she voted it against it back then and is still against it.
That’s precisely why she can’t motion to change the stipend now, argued City Attorney Andrew DeGraffenreidt. He said the only person who can bring up a motion to change the stipend is anyone who voted for the stipend. That means Board Member Terence Davis would be the only one to make such a motion.
Although he originally seconded the motion by Miller-Anderson to cancel the stipend, he said he did not want to bring forward a motion to cancel the stipend at this point.
“I’m extremely disappointed that, people who were on the prevailing side, do not realize that that stipend was inappropriate,” Botel said. “Rescinding it, giving it back is just the right thing to do.”
Miller-Anderson said she felt like it was a setup by the city attorney.
When asked if she trusts his legal opinion she said she does not and that’s why she put his contract on the agenda for the next city council meeting.
After a two-and-a-half hour long heated debate, the meeting ended without a vote on the stipend.