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Minutes of the Regular Meeting of Council
<br />Monday, July 16, 2012
<br />Page 21
<br />say that if he has been working on the projects over the last couple of months, that may
<br />have worked in to his schedule but without knowing that he is going to be working on other
<br />projects, he may not be able to schedule it as well. But if he is on retainer, he can
<br />anticipate these things that are coming, anticipate that there's projects. The framework is
<br />set in place for him to •do this work. Similar to the Engineer, similar to the Law Director,
<br />similar to the Architect, similar to many positions that we have in the
<br />Village. -
<br />1VIr. Delguyd asked, do those not have dollar costs associated with retainers? That's my
<br />question.
<br />Ms. Calta replied, there are dollars set forth in this Ordinance as far as rates. Similar to the
<br />Law Director, similar to the Engineer, similar to the Architect, similar to the Prosecutor
<br />and the Animal Warden.
<br />Council President stated, I would like to take the position of the Chair here to try to pull
<br />this together or put it a little bit different than the Law Department would in a big picture
<br />thinking. For your benefit, and again, it's not your fault that you weren't around for some
<br />of this stuff, but this goes back a long, long time. I understand the Mayor's frustration at
<br />people looking at this as another position or a cumbersome government or whatever and I
<br />also understand the recommendations or comments of Council saying do we really need
<br />this? But I think this is one of those areas in particular that is easy to highlight all the way
<br />back to the widening of SOM Center Road and all the myriad of projects we have had.
<br />To me this is like, I can go two different directions with this buf I know I want to keep this
<br />brief, but this is like the cup half empty and the cup half full. We are going to pay the man
<br />the same rate pretty much whether he is on board or whether we have to pick up the phone,
<br />find out if he is in town or available, right? We are not creating a salaried position or a
<br />benefit position. So let's put that to bed. The onus is on the administration, on the Finance
<br />Department, on the various departments that use landscaping which I believe let's say are
<br />just about all of them, Police Department, Fire Department, Administration, Parks and
<br />Recreation, as it always has been, to do their due diligence, set forth a budget and follow it.
<br />It's kind of a moot point. It's just like again, do you do it this way or do you do it that
<br />way?
<br />In this particular case, in the example that was just brought up, I think there's a certain
<br />learning curve when you bring somebody in who has to understand everything from swales
<br />and the way lands move and how long do we fool around with trees. Scrambling, trying to
<br />keep trees alive and try different trees. Doug, you openly as a matter of fact said right in
<br />front of Council, I don't know if it's going to work, but the other ones didn't, so we will
<br />try these. That's really not a professional way to handle landscape in a community of this
<br />stature. To have your. Service Department guy saying, let's try these flowers or something
<br />like that. I think there's something bigger at stake here that we have really worked at. And
<br />again, without treading lightly here, to try to articulate what the Mayor is saying, but a
<br />little bit differently, is that there is sort of like a damned if you do, damned if you don't
<br />kind of thing, like not having, what is this amphitheatre, what is this trail system, what's
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