BPA Board began their May 4, 2021 meeting with the approval of the minutes of the previous meeting, and with no public concerns they heard the clerk treasurer’s report and approved it. Nathan Gardner gave an update on Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI).
Edon has sent the agreement and the department heads are all aware of what each one is responsible for and they sent any adjustments back to Edon. It is presently being reviewed by Rhonda Fisher, city Attorney.
They will finalize after that and move on to finance options. He assured the customers that there will be plenty of education, safety and security with this change.
Requests to hire were approved for:
-Justin Waldvogel, as an Electric department employee
-Becket Starr as a temporary part time laborer for the Communications department
-Rehire Clayton Rupp as a temporary part time seasonal laborer for the Water Department.
The Board also approved:
-Request for retirement (with regret), for Sandy Bostater, from the Clerk Treasurer’s office, as of January 2022
-Permission to post for the Office Manager/Payroll position in the Clerk-Treasurer’s office
-Semi monthly disbursements, payment of bills
A discussion was held on the return to in-person BPA meetings. It was agreed that this would not include unannounced public, but there would be room for all of the Board members and the regular ones who attend.
They would also be able to choose to use Zoom. The general agreement was that they would feel comfortable with returning to in person, as long as they don’t have large groups show up.
They will wear masks, stay socially distanced and have anyone who needs to address them come in and then leave, so there are not too many people there. A motion was passed to return to in person, with virtual as an option.
BPA and Staff comments: Mayor Carrie Schlade sent her thank you to Chris Rice, Parker Rosebrock, Eric Herman and Brian Wieland for all of their willingness to help us through the digital changes during the pandemic.
Rhonda Fisher said Sandy Bostater will be sorely missed, and all agreed. Nathan Gardner touched on an article about a scholarship mentioned in the news given to Rhonda Fisher’s daughter and he wants to set up a time that they officially give that to her. He welcomed Justin to the staff.
Karen Ford shared her congrats to Jillian on getting the scholarship and said she is happy to hear about splitting the warehouse position between two departments and that they have the budget for it right now.
Dick Long said he is looking forward to meeting the new hires and restated that they will miss Sandy. Also congrats to Rhonda on her daughter’s achievement. Annette also gave congrats to the new hires and to Jillian and Sandy.
Jim Salsbury agreed on all that was said, saying especially that Sandy always seemed to know what is going on and will be missed.
They all wished her the best even though it won’t be until January. Chairman Tom Sprow welcomed Clayton back and the new hires, Ms. Fisher and Sandy for her 30 years of service.
They went into Executive Session to discuss acquisition of property and immenent litigation, with no action taken, before adjourning.
