alamo township board Feb. 24.JPG

The Alamo Township Board of Trustees from left, township attorney John Lohrstorfer, Trustee Gail VanderWeele, Clerk Laura Endres, Supervisor Lou Conti, trustee Dawn Potter-Williams and Treasurer Mary Stoneburner.

(Alex Mitchell | Kalamazoo Gazette)

ALAMO TOWNSHIP, MI

— Alamo Township Supervisor Lou Conti will

when the township's 2014-15 budget goes into effect this spring, a decision made final during a disjointed, somewhat contentious special meeting of the township board Monday evening.

Audience members spoke both for and against the increases for Conti, who along with Trustee Dawn Potter-Williams is in the midst of a recall effort, during the more than two-hour meeting where $1,000 raises were also approved for Clerk Laura Endres and Treasurer Mary Stoneburner despite both making statements prior to the vote that they didn't want raises.

"With the pay raise, I think -- having new people on the board -- I think we should have waited another year," said Stoneburner, who is the only member of the five-person board that wasn't elected this past term.

The board voted 4-1 to approve Conti's pay raise, bringing his annual salary to $22,500. Stoneburner cast the only dissenting vote.

On separate 3-2 votes, the board approved the raises for Stoneburner and Endres, bringing their annual pay to $21,000. Both Stoneburner and Endres voted against their own raises.

Several audience members said even though the board hasn't received raises since 2004 and that a deputy supervisor position utilized by the last board has been eliminated, the officials should have known what they would be paid before being elected in 2012.

"We've had so much negative front page news in the past year and a half I would have a tough time saying raises are merited," said a man who didn't identify himself before taking the podium.

But resident Jim Endres spoke in support of the board and said those declining increases are only doing so because they are being "intimidated."

"(Clerk Endres), I know for a fact you don't even make minimum wage with the hours you put in, yet you turned down an increase," Endres said. "You're not asking for an increase, but I know why: you're intimidated by these people out here that question how much you're making.

"I'm in full support of the township stepping up to the plate and paying our hired people what it takes, what it feels the jobs are worth."

Kalamazoo County Commissioner Julie Rogers, whose district covers Alamo Township, suggested at the meeting that the board form a subcommittee in the future to examine pay increases, but Conti said that approach was "kind of complicated for a general community."

"From a citizen's perspective, it looks a little self serving when the board brings a compensation recommendation," said Rogers, D-Kalamazoo Township.

The first-term supervisor has been embroiled in controversy since last fall when he was accused of making a lewd gesture toward a woman who is not a township resident. Although he was cleared of criminal wrongdoing by the Kalamazoo County Sheriff's Office because he did not expose himself, it wasn't enough to prevent some township residents from pursuing a recall election in relation to that incident and others.

The Kalamazoo County Election Commission approved three recall petitions against Conti and two against township trustee Dawn Potter-Williams on Dec. 28. Conti has denied any wrongdoing throughout the controversy.

A special assessment to gather funding for poor roads and decisions to retain the services of multiple township business associates were passed, but at least one audience member appeared angry and confused with Conti near the meeting's conclusion.

Alamo Township Fire Chief Terry Kizer took the podium at the end of the meeting and said he had been told by Conti that the special meeting was being held to discuss compensation for firefighters in Alamo's paid, on-call department, a subject that was barely mentioned during the meeting.

Kizer said he missed a training session his firefighters were taking part in that evening to attend the meeting that he said had an dishonest agenda.

"I'm not a complainer, everyone here knows that, but I passed on a lot of stuff tonight to be here just for this and we're not here," a visibly angry Kizer said. "Now, I have to go explain to them why I wasn't at a training and why this didn't get taken care of."

Conti, who told the Gazette last week that the meeting was being held to examine the pay levels of township employees after determining the pay level for its paid, on-call firefighters was too low to attract new hires, offered to meet with Kizer to discuss the issue in private, but he declined the invitation.

"We're talking about this now, this is what this meeting's for," the fire chief said.

Conti responded that the issue would be taken up at the board's next meeting on March 10 and asked if that was alright.

"No, it's not," Kizer said as he was leaving the podium. "I want you to come over and explain to those guys why I did not make drill tonight."

The authors of the recall petitions against Conti and Potter-Williams must collect 380 signatures by Aug. 1 to force a November recall election.

Alex Mitchell covers county government and taxes for the Kalamazoo Gazette. Email him at amitche5@mlive.com. Follow him on Twitter.