Advisory neighborhood commissions throughout the city have often had trouble getting their representatives to show up for meetings. Some commissions have gone for months without even gathering a quorum. So last week, Barrington D. Scott, chair of a Ward 4 commission, proposed a solution: Pay commissioners $100 for each meeting they attend. (They now work for free.) “We have to deal with all the complaints, arguments, and confrontations on a grass-roots level,” says Scott, “and nobody wants to do it.” Assuming perfect attendance by the nearly 300 commissioners at 10 meetings a year, the annual price tag for Scott’s initiative could approach $300,000. “There just aren’t the funds available for this,” says At-Large Councilmember David A. Catania, chair of the council’s Committee on Public Services. “I very much like the volunteer notion of ANC commissions and would probably not champion the notion of salaries.” —Brian Montopoli