No! It’s his job. Hilton Head mayor deserves no extra pay for Hurricane Dorian | Opinion

Hilton Head Island Mayor John McCann deserves no extra pay for doing his job during the threat of Hurricane Dorian last month.

It’s appalling that the suggestion even appeared on a town finance committee agenda this week.

That shows a disconnect between Town Hall and how the public perceives the job of mayor.

McCann is not an hourly employee. He is not a full-time employee. He volunteered for a ceremonial job that pays quite well for someone not tasked with the day-to-day administration of town government.

McCann’s job is leadership. If that means hunkering down with emergency management and fire rescue staff at the emergency operations center on the island, so be it. He’s there — voluntarily — to calm the public, not perform duties of the professionals who very well may deserve overtime pay.

The mayor’s job is one of public service. If McCann is interested more in the payout, he should never have applied for the job.

No one said it’s an easy one. Three years ago, then-Council member McCann argued for doubling the speechwriter budget for the previous mayor, saying the mayor attends 20 meetings a month on the town’s behalf.

The mayor’s annual salary is $25,000, which is well more than mayors make in cities of similar size around the state. A quick look indicates $15,000 is more the norm. Plus, Hilton Head pays the mayor and council members an extra $50 per town-related meeting, with an annual cap. That raises the mayor’s potential total salary to $32,500.

Still, the mayor’s position should be about leadership, not personal income.

It is also disturbing that no one would claim ownership for putting McCann’s hurricane-pay item on the committee agenda, though McCann reviews each meeting agenda before it’s made public.

When the meeting rolled around, with a room full of citizens looking on, it was taken off the agenda at the suggestion of assistant town manager Josh Gruber. It should never come back.

This disappointment follows two dubious public expenditures involving the mayor — one to send McCann on an uber-first-class flight to Italy to make Hilton Head a sister city of Verona, and then to fly him to Washington this week for a White House reception during the president of Italy’s visit.

If the public is to fly the mayor to Washington, it should be to bang on doors for the nuts and bolts needed to survive, such as money for infrastructure, storm recovery or storm preparation.

Town Council should see the bigger problem it is creating. It must see that these moves threaten its credibility as a prudent steward of tax dollars.

This story was originally published October 16, 2019 at 3:33 PM.