7 AUG 07: THE PAY OF LAFAYE

"Is this your first time with a blog?" At least I think that's what LaFaye Dellinger asked, when she called me on her cell phone Monday. After four-and-a-half years of blogging, that's a bit like asking a family with two children if it's their first marriage.

BLOG EXCLUSIVE: Smiths Station Mayor LaFaye Dellinger filled in more details Monday, about a recently-approved raise for elected officials. She confirmed after the next election, the mayor's monthly salary will jump from $750 to $1,875 -- a jump of 150 percent. And that doesn't even include incentive clauses, if the high school football team makes the playoffs.

LaFaye Dellinger explained there's a good reason for that 150 percent pay raise -- because the Smiths Station Mayor doubles as the City Manager, and the city finally will start paying a salary for both titles. What a difference this is, from other area cities! If Jeff Hardin lived in Smiths Station instead of Phenix City, he'd have to fire himself.

"I attend more meetings as City Manager than I do as the Mayor," LaFaye Dellinger told me. This seems to beg a question -- exactly when IS she City Manager, as opposed to being Mayor? Does the mayoral line end, if there's no ground to break or blue ribbon to cut?

So what about the e-mailed claim from Sunday, that Smith Station's founding politicians promised to serve for free? "He probably didn't mention that it was only for the first term," Mayor LaFaye Dellinger answered correctly. So the city council is working a bit like a discount cell phone plan....

"We can afford it," Mayor LaFaye Dellinger said of the upcoming raises for Smiths Station elected officials. I didn't probe any further into the city finances. My mom taught me long ago NOT to ask people how much money they make - but then, she didn't try to keep me out of journalism school.

(Of course, someone else might wind up affording the pay raises in Smiths Station -- all the new soldiers at Fort Benning.)

You may recall LaFaye Dellinger had some recent health problems, which put her in the hospital. But the Smiths Station Mayor admitted to your blog she's thinking about running for re-election next year. Ms. Dellinger may be in the mood to finish what she started - but then again, she started a new city.

"The citizens will make that decision for me," Mayor LaFaye Dellinger said about running for another term. Translation: if people in Smiths Station run against her, she might step aside and let them have the job. But she added if someone ran merely "for the money," that would be different. So you laid-off mill workers should stay in Columbus and forget about it....

It seemed LaFaye Dellinger called me while driving back to Smiths Station from the Lee County Justice Center. We noted she was on jury duty Monday, but the mayor says she was dismissed from a murder trial. At least no critic can accuse her of a conflict of interest, by considering a case of robbery.

LaFaye Dellinger admits as Smiths Station's Mayor, she could have claimed an exemption from Monday's jury duty. But she believes it's important to fulfill such a civic responsibility. Some men wouldn't enter a jury pool if they were promised all the women would wear bikinis.

In a Columbus political note, former Council candidate Jeremy Hobbs is sending e-mails around town suggesting he might run the Muscogee County School Board. He notes Councilor Red McDaniel is among those suggesting he run for school board - which is interesting, since McDaniel had to defeat Hobbs to keep his seat three years ago.

E-MAIL UPDATE: We thank a blog reader for responding to Monday's entry....

HAPPY BIRTHDAY..........I WAS 56 LAST SATURDAY ON THE 28TH OF JULY....GUESS WE HAVE SOMETHING IN COMMON...WE BOTH LEO'S

Now hold on here! You can keep that astrological zodiac stuff, because I gave it up long ago. I've actually glanced at newspaper horoscopes two days after the fact, and seen how off-base they were about me.

Let's see what signs of the times were making news Monday:

+ WRBL reported the late-afternoon heat index in Columbus hit 105 degrees F. We especially note this for our Third Brigade soldiers serving in Iraq - so they can dream about how cool and comfortable it is back home.

(But a short afternoon shower cooled things off in my neighborhood. You know that kind of rain - just long enough to make the flowers smell like they're close to being cooked as incense.)

+ The Alabama Department of Education reported Russell County High School and Middle School failed to make "annual yearly progress." How can this be? I don't recall a single teacher being arrested since last fall.

+ Phenix City Police reported vandals left extensive damage at Lakewood Golf Course. Among other things, someone drove two golf carts into a lake. What did these knuckleheads do - sit at home and watch "Caddyshack" all weekend?

(C'mon folks, let's be sensible here! If you don't like Tiger Woods winning all those golf tournaments, stop buying Nike products.)

+ Riverchase Drive in Phenix City closed, for 45 days of construction on a new ramp from U.S. 80. Drivers are advised to use an alternate hospital, while the work is.... no wait, some of them already do that....

+ Talbotton Mayor Tony Lamar held two testy public hearings on increasing property taxes 28 percent. Resident Willie Willis whined (OK, said) the city is "trying to tax its way out of all its problems." Huh?! It certainly doesn't look like spending the way out worked.

(Mayor Tony Lamar told WRBL he'll resist the petitions calling for his resignation, and finish his term. I think I know what this means - Talbotton doesn't even have a pension plan for retired elected officials.)

+ Instant Message to Robert Nardelli: Congratulations on your move from The Home Depot to Chairman and C.E.O. of Chrysler. Do you plan to change the car company's commercial slogan - maybe to "You can paint this car; we can help"?

SCHEDULED WEDNESDAY: Is a love affair at the Government Center about to end?....

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