03/30/1999 Meeting Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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Special Council Minutes of 3/30/99 and our bond counsel has pointed out the need to us. The State Auditor's office has recommended one in management letters dating back to 1993. And our Law Director has pointed out the liability in not having one. At the request of Council, the Finance Director did an extensive survey of the requirements needed and a study of the cost of getting an individual who can fill those requirements. Neighboring cities are paying in the mid-fifties. Currently, over one-third of the city's full-time employees make over $50,000 a year. This Council believes we can secure an experienced, degreed individual for $35,000--$20,000 below market. He believes that is unrealistic particularly when you consider non-degreed clerks in the department that this individual will be training and supervising commend money in the same neighborhood. Lastly, why are we making the cuts in these two areas? To pay for repairs for an obsolete 25 year old pool at the Rec Center? We are trying to come up with money to repair a broken cable based on a two- year old repair estimate it would cost $25,000 to repair one cable. Rec did not ask for this money in the budget. No one on Council but himself has looked at the problem recently or they would have seen by now we have three broken cables on three different walls, each wall has many cables. These cables provide no safety risk. They are only to support the pool while the pool is empty during the off-season. No money should be spent on this dinosaur. As fast as these three cables are fixed, more will break. Instead, plans should be made to replace the pool in the next few years and it should be paid for out of Rec levy money which will be coming available then. Roll call complete. The motion passed with seven affirmative votes. Ordinance No. 99-35 adopted. Mrs. Saringer commented regarding Mrs. Kasler's raise as the Safety Director that her salary was worked out prior to her acceptance of the position. Mr. McKay said the comments made concerning the Finance Director sounded to him like she did not know the duties of that office when elected. He said that, as a person running for Council, if he needed a secretary, he would say that prior to his election. Also, he does not believe the salaries were looked at or denied for the purpose of subsidizing the Rec Center. All of these issues have been discussed during committee meetings, and they will be discussed again once Mr. Gareau introduces legislation to create the Assistant Finance Director position. He believes the committee meetings are the appropriate time for comments and discussions. Mr. Nashar noted that, although the State Auditor's office and the former Finance Director recommended Council consider hiring an Assistant Finance Director, it is Council's responsibility to set the salary range. Mrs. Kasler said she agreed with Mr. McKay that comments should be made in committee meetings. However, she believes she has an obligation to respond to the comments already made. In response to Mr. Limpert's comments and, by virtue of that, to the Mayor's request and Mrs. Copfer's report with regard to what they referred to as "merit raises," many of the increases that appeared on that report were based on an entirely different premise. First, the increase to the position of Safety Director in 1994 was, as Council President Saringer mentioned, a condition of employment with the city presented prior to the acceptance of that appointment. Although Mayor Boyle believed 4