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Show Hffcrttr iiTftiSiraff fftttri0 mfV itotfurai tup? salt lake free not for sale volume two november 16, 1972 number thirteen Should Residents Receive Stipends For Participation The question of paying stipends to residents serving on Model Cities task forces and the Coordinating Council has been brought up by residents active in the Model Cities program. In an interview with Faron Ith, Task Force Coordinator for Model Cities, some points were made for and against such an endeavor. Ith said the Salt Lake Model Cities agency could pay such stipends and would do so if residents indicated they desired this type of program. He residents will have to make the final decision on whether or not the change would be for the better or would destroy their opportunity for free and democratic involvement in the Model Cities decision-makinprocess, Ith said. g placed on the number of residents allowed to participate. As it is now, any resident can attend meetings and become a voting member. A second possible drawback to residents receiving stipends is the possibility of "strings being attached" to such payments, he said. As it is now, Ith pointed out, residents are independent and free to make their own decision, whereas stipends could carry with them a sort of control over how residents vote and approve projects for funding. He said some Model Cities programs across the country have the Mayor select the residents to serve because they are paying them stipends. The Salt Lake Model Cities agency does pay transportation costs and babysitting fees for residents attending meetings but Ith said that few people request these payments. Several residents interviewed on the question of receiving stipends indicated they "didn't want any money for taking an interest in our community" and felt "the money would better be used to fund projects." Paying stipends would change the structure of the Model Cities program locally and said. If you don't pay stipends, he said, you attract only "do-gooders- middle-incom- ", e people usually with a sincere desire to help but without any real understanding of many of the problems in the model 'We prefer to pay stipends ." Denver, . neighborhood. Colo. " . . . paying stipends is no guarantee of quality' cautioned residents however, to look at both sides of the problem. He said the money for such stipends would come out of the Citizen Participation component budget and therefor , a limit would be knowledge and expertise," he In telephone interviews with Helena, Mont. Citizen Participation directors and staff personnel other Model Cities programs in surrounding states on the question of paying stipends, the following information was in gathered. Don Garcia, C.P. director with the Denver Model Cities program was emphatic in his support of paying stipends to residents serving on task forces and committees. "We prefer paying stipends rather than the Mickey Mouse Jan Hall, with the Helena, Montana Model Cities program, said, "We do pay stipends to one group of residents, but don't feel it necessarily brings in quality would rather see participation. I I She explained that the Helena program has three levels of citizen participation - a Board of Directors, planning reimbursing residents for councils. The three neighborhood councils of ten members each are sid residents are elected by neighborhoods to serve on committees and are paid $15.00 per meeting, because that was the amount paid by the local Community Action Program. They attend a minimum of two meetings a month with no limit on the number of meetings they can attend, he stated. One hundred residents are involved in the citizen participation part of the program but Garcia expects to increase this to over two hundred next year. you take advantage of the knowledge of a doctor or lawyer or any professional person, you expect to pay for it. We owe it to the residents to pay for their "I f Model hours spent at meetings? residents for transportation and babysitting." committees and neighborhood Garcia small stipends for some form of reimbursing method of keeping receipts and expenses," he said. Should residents receive the only residents receiving stipends. They are limited to 30 members, she said, and they are paid $5.00 per meeting. While no limit is set on the number of meetings attended each month, "residents have not been eager to attend more meetings to receive more money," she advised. The Helena Model Cities program has operated with this type of stipend plan since its beginning in the summer of 1968. "We just started paying stipends." Boise, Idaho Wilker, of the Boise, Idaho Model Cities program, advised that they have just started paying stipends to residents serving on the Citizen's Advisory Board, an elected board with somq members appointed by the Mayor. A sti pend of $5.00 is paid to each resident with a possible maximum payment of $25.00 per month. He is forwarding more detailed information Information Specialist, Steve and subsequent change-ove- r effect on the program, which will be published when it is received. Does the local Community Action Program pay stipends to residents serving on committees? In talking with Ron Hammond of CAP, he advised that only members of the Board of Trustees are paid $5.00 per meeting with a limit of two low-incom- Published During Thanksgiving Week! e meetings The Community on the Neighborhood News Will Not Be a month. NEXT ISSUE -- He said, however, that he could think of only two people who had ever requested such payment. NOV. 30, 1972 |