Saundra McDavid

Phil Bandy recently accepted a position as the Associate Director for the National Geothermal Data System in the Geosciences Department of Boise State University. This is a long term paid position where he will be assisting with project management and using his bureaucratic experience in outreach to governmental agencies. He has been working at this position since January 12th, but as of February 11th he had not formally announced his second job to the city council or the citizens of Eagle, leaving Eagle residents wondering if the mayor is focused on the city of Eagle, or distracted by his new duties with BSU.

The timing of this comes at a critical time for a city which is continually reviewing cost cutting measures and some who would like to see the mayor’s position and salary cut back to part time. Bandy was a city councilman in 2007 when the Eagle city council voted to approve a dramatic increase in salary and a change from part time to full time for the mayor’s position. Shortly after that decision was made, Bandy announced he was running for mayor. During the campaign, when some of the mayoral candidates were claiming the mayor’s position was not about the salary and offered to decrease the amount, Bandy was justifying the salary claiming that the job required a full time person who would be putting in far more than 40 hours a week. After Bandy was elected, he stated that the job duties also required a full time assistant, who is now also on the city payroll. The yearly cost to Eagle taxpayers for the mayor and his full time assistant is now $146,732.

Now many are questioning how Eagle’s full time mayor, with a full time salary and a full time assistant, has time to work as an Associate Director at BSU. All of this while the city is experiencing staffing and budget cuts and is open only four days a week. Last year, amid these budget cuts, salary reductions and layoffs, the city council voted to decrease their salary by 50%. Mayor Bandy offered up a meager 2.5% cut for the mayor’s position while imposing a higher cut on the city staff salaries. Bandy’s new job leaves many people wondering if he is positioning himself for an exit from City Hall, at the expense of Eagle taxpayers. Moonlighting poses yet another ethical dilemma for Eagle’s mayor who will likely face increased scrutiny of the hours he dedicates to the city he is supposed to be running. He now owes the people of Eagle an explanation of how he intends to do two jobs at once, especially after he justified the increase in the mayor’s salary by stating the job required more than 40 hours a week. Are there safeguards that will assure the people that city hall property such as telephones, computers, copy machines and time are not being used for the mayor’s second job? There is a difference between having a full time job and having a full time commitment to a job. Can a moonlighting mayor claim he is committed full time to the citizens of Eagle?

Eagle residents have suggested that the city council revisit the decision to change the mayor’s position and compensation at the next budget cycle. Others have suggested that Eagle should not wait. The decision to lower the salary and revert the mayor’s position back to part time should occur now.

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