A hurdle that might have been more confusing than actual was cleared Thursday, paving the way for pension reform in Atlanta.
Ginny Looney, the city’s ethics officer, opined that five council members -- all of whom used to work for the city or were elected before citywide changes in retirement benefits were implemented -- should be allowed to vote on the changes that would no doubt impact them.
According to the City Charter and Code of Ordinances, council members are prohibited from participating in or voting on matters in which they have a financial or personal interest. But Looney wrote that the Code of Ethics was not intended to prohibit members of the council from participating in matters of general policy when they have interests shared by a substantial segment of the public.
“While the members who belong to the defined benefit plan will be affected by changes to their plan, all the members of the City Council have a financial interest in whether the city adopts a defined contribution plan for its employees or elects to participate in the federal Social Security system,” Looney wrote. “If City Council members were disqualified from participating in the vote on pension reform due to these financial interests, it would result in disenfranchising the entire council and result in no action being taken.”
Atlanta, like many large and small municipalities across America, is considering major changes in its pension programs. Mayor Kasim Reed is expected to soon come up with a singular plan for reform, based on seven options a special panel presented to him.
But for at least two weeks, buzz and rumors circulated around City Hall that several members of the council would not be allowed to vote, because of their long connections to the city or when they were elected. Several council members were even confused as to what kind of plan they were in -- defined benefits or defined contributions.
In the end, Looney said only five members were questionable.
One was C.T. Martin, who has been on the council for more than 20 years. He joined the council before the city began offering defined contributions as a form of pension benefits. Martin is in the older, defined benefits plan.
The four others -- Cleta Winslow, Michael Julian Bond, Felicia Moore and Carla Smith -- were longtime city employees and participants in the defined benefits plan before they were elected.
Had each of the five been disqualified from voting, each of the 10 remaining voting members of the council would have had to agree on changing the pension program, since it needs a two-thirds vote to pass.
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