AUBURN – Having a city staffer assigned to answer City Council questions might make a lot of sense, but most councilors don’t like the idea.

“I don’t think it’s the right time,” Councilor Bruce Bickford said. “It may be a great idea, but I don’t think we want to be adding staff now. This is our first year to show we are really serious about reducing taxes. I can’t see spending any money for anything like that.”

Mayor John Jenkins offered the idea of hiring an administrative assistant to work exclusively for councilors on Monday’s council workshop agenda after it was brought up by others on the board.

Councilors Mike Farrell and Dan Herrick said the idea has merit. Farrell said the staffer would investigate councilors’ questions, meeting directly with city department heads.

Herrick said he liked the idea of having someone who answered directly to him.

“I like the idea of having somebody, where I can pick up the phone and say ‘this is being presented tonight and here’s the information I need,’ and it’s there in my mailbox that night,” he said. “In the past, I’ve had to call each individual department head. And I’m not sure that I’m going to get it in time. And I’m not 100 percent sure that I’m even getting the correct information.”

But other councilors said that’s why the city has a manager.

“That’s the person that works directly for the City Council,” Councilor Robert Hayes said. “That’s who’s supposed to answer our questions.”

He suggested councilors wait to see if problems they have don’t go away once the city hires a permanent manager.

“To me, this sounds too much like we’d be hiring a snooping position, and I just can’t agree to it,” he said.

Jenkins said a permanent manager would help.

“Right now everyone on staff is in limbo,” Jenkins said. “Once that decision is made, I think that will really calm things down and steady the concerns you’ve expressed here.”