WEIRTON — Members of Weirton Council voted down a proposed ordinance with the goal of adjusting the pay scales for various non-union municipal employees, Tuesday, casting a split vote before an audience which included many of those city workers.

The proposed amendment to Ordinance 1313 received a vote of 3-4, with members Chris Jonczak, Jesse Keeder, and Rick Stead voting in favor of the changes, and Tim Connell, Ralph Cunningham, Brittany Halloway, and Anthony Rocchio voting against.

The vote follows a series of workshops, during which council and city administrators had opportunities to discuss the proposed new rates as well as the methodology used in designing them. The most recent of those workshops was held Sept. 24.

Despite those previous discussions, some expressed concerns Tuesday.

“Council has only asked for the administration to be open, honest, and fair,” Connell said.

Council previously budgeted $458,000 to assist with the possible pay increases, with City Manager Mike Adams and Finance Director Diana Smoljanovich designing a plan for the ordinance to use between $420,000 and $430,000.

Connell, though said he didn’t feel the way the funds were divided among the positions in question was done fairly, citing the potential of larger increases for some employees.

“The workers they are trying to protect are not receiving a fair amount of money,” Connell said.

He also questioned the way the proposed ranges were designed, feeling they weren’t fair comparisons.

Adams previously explained the ranges were established comparing pay rates from Weirton to Fairmont and Clarksburg because of their similar populations and budget sizes, and Steubenville and Wheeling because of their proximity.

“Those are our competition,” Adams reiterated Tuesday. “Those are the ones who can come and take our workers.”

Adams said, through those comparisons, and other adjustments, they endeavored to establish new pay ranges which would be best for each position, explaining it was a method also encouraged by a consultant used by the city in 2023.

Connell pointed to what he claimed was an adjustment involving a more than $25,000 pay increase with only a title change, later explaining he was comparing the existing transit mobility manager and proposed transit operations manager.

Kevin Davis, director of the Weirton Transit Department, though, explained Connell had misunderstood the adjustment.

“It’s a brand new position,” Davis said of the proposed operations manager post. “We’ve never had one.”

Smoljanovich, then, said the mobility manager post would have been eliminated under the ordinance.

Stead took umbrage with waiting until Tuesday night to ask questions, reminding council there had been numerous workshops held to discuss the issue, and pointing to many of the employees in the audience who would be affected.

“The workshop was the time to bring these questions out,” Stead said, adding he felt it wasn’t fair to the employees to wait until prior to the vote to raise concerns. “I don’t know what the problem is, but we’re not being fair to the people sitting back there and in other parts of the building.”

Rocchio claimed he had been presented with new information, leading him to question the proposal, but when asked to present the information, he would not.

“I don’t have to,” he said.

Mayor Dean Harris also criticized the decision by those on council voting against the ordinance, saying, while police officers, firefighters, and other employees are able to receive pay raises through contract negotiations, these workers haven’t always had the same opportunity.

“These employees have no union backing,” he said. “They’ve been put on the back burner. This is a chance for making them whole.”