The SLO City Council took care of some items that, while routine on their face, raised some eyebrows May 3.
Specifically those of City Councilmen Dan Carpenter and John Ashbaugh who voted on opposing sides as the lone dissenting votes on their issues.
Ashbaugh opposed the reapproval of a use permit for SLO Brew’s new brewery at 855 Aerovista Place to have a nightclub known as “The Rock” along with their tasting taproom.
Mayor Jan Marx apologized to the public for the Council having to perform a re-do of their April 19 meeting, which originally approved the permit along the same lines. There was an issue with the noticing of residences within 300’ of the project boundary which she termed an administrative error.
Ashbaugh maintained his opposition the Council’s original decision not to include a sunset clause in the zoning approval, giving the City an option to “pull the plug” after several years if the operation does pose a nuisance to neighbors.
Carpenter got his turn to voice disapproval on another subject towards the end of the night, as the rest of the body agreed to a plan to dole out $5,000 bonuses as “retention incentives” to City Manager Katie Lichtig and City Attorney Christine Dietrick.
The City Staff report, and Marx, cast the one-time payments as a reward for jobs well done in the 2015-2016 fiscal year after independent review.
Carpenter, who has often “but heads” with Lichtig in the past, called the idea of offering a retention incentive misleading.
With benefits, according to the City’s figures as of February 2016, Lichtig takes an annual salary of $321,201.
In 2015 she was given a one-time bonus of $7,600 and a monthly $450 car allowance.
Dietrick’s compensation package is now $275,778 annually.
