The Fishers City Council passed the 2017 budget unanimously Monday night, but a motion aimed at raising the salary of City Clerk Jennifer Kehl failed to get a majority of council votes.

Councilman Brad DeReamer asked that an item be added to the council agenda, amending the salary ordinance approved by the council in September.  He wanted Clerk Kehl’s salary increased to be more in line with city clerk salaries of other second class cities in Indiana. Other than Kokomo, Fishers has the lowest city clerk salary, based on numbers DeReamer presented at the council session.

Per DeReamer’s figures, Fishers pays the city clerk $55,000 a year, compared to Greenwood at $60,000…South Bend at $59,466 and Elkhart at $68,174.

“That’s embarrassing,” said DeReamer.

DeReamer originally offered a motion to raise Kehl’s 2017 salary to $65,000.  However, City Attorney Chris Greisl informed the council that since the 2017 salary ordinance was already approved, and there is no agenda item on the Monday night meeting allowing for such a vote, a majority of councilors must vote to add this item to the meeting agenda before such a motion can be considered.

The motion to add the city clerk salary amendment to the meeting agenda failed by a 6-3 vote, with DeReamer, David George and Cecilia Coble voting to add the item to the council agenda.

Council Member Selina Stoller made a statement before the budget votes, saying she voted against the salary proposal in the City Council Finance Committee meeting, but could not attend the salary ordinance vote last month, claiming she would have voted against it.  However, she did support the budget passed at Monday night’s meeting, which did not include the salary ordinance.