DEPARTMENT HEADS … Police Chief Kevin Chittenden, center, shared a couple highlights at the March 1, 2021 council meeting, on his yearly report which is in the Mayor’s Annual Report to council, while other department heads, Fire Chief Rick Sluder and Public Works Superintendent Keith Torbet listen and prepare their thoughts to share. (PHOTO BY REBECCA MILLER, STAFF)
By: Rebecca Miller
In New Business at the March 1, 2021 Wauseon City Council meeting, A motion to accept the Justice Assistance Grant, or JAG, in the amount of $9302.58 for the purchase of seven new portable radios for the Wauseon Police Department, was approved. Other items that were approved were:
•First Reading of Resolution 2021-5 Approving the Solid Waste Management Plan Update for the Joint Solid Waste Management District of Defiance, Fulton, Paulding and Williams Counties, Ohio
•Second Reading of Ordinance 2021-2 Ordinance to amend Exhibit B of Section 929 and Section 933.02(a)(1) of the Codified Ordinances (CO) to increase the water and sewer rates by 6% effective April 1, 2021 (with Councilman Scott Stiriz voting against it)
•Second Reading Ordinance 2021-3 Ordinance to amend CO 933(b) to increase the restoration fee after service is disconnected due to non-payment to $50, and to add a $100 restoration fee for service restored during non-business hours.
•Second Reading Resolution 2021-4 Authorizing the Mayor to enter into an agreement with Sudsina & Associates to serve as an Advisor for Debt Offerings and Other financings
•Minutes of the February 15, 2021 regular meeting and of the February 25, 2021 meeting of the Committee of the Whole
•Payment of the bills
Council President Shane Chamberlin gave a report on the Personnel Committee meeting which was held on February 15 following the regular council meeting.
Chamberlin said that it was quite a long meeting, a little over an hour, so he chose not to share everything that happened at the meeting, hitting specific points for the report.
Present for the Personnel Committee meeting were Chamberlin, Councilmen Steve Schneider and Scott Stiriz, City Law Director Tom McWatters, Finance Director Jamie Giguere, Human Resources officer Sarah Wheeler, Mayor Kathy Huner (who left at 5:55), Fire Chief Rick Sluder and Clerk of Council Andrea Gerken.
Chamberlin had printed notes on the meeting which showed all that occurred: job description updates were provided by Sarah Wheeler – Wheeler explained that the job description of Administrative Assistant to the Mayor is no longer accurate; the job duties for the Fire Department need to be removed as well as removing the notarizing of documents; Cell phone plan management needs to be added and Assistant to the Public Service Director needs to be added in place of Assistant to the Fire Chief; Fire Captain/Medic and Second Assistant Fire Chief hours need to be corrected.
Also, changes need to be made to HR officer from part time to Unclassified, pastime and report to Director of Finance instead of Assistant Director of Finance; and Paramedic/EMT position is being added as an additional position in the Fire Department (Sluder explained that this will allow the FD to hire people for the transfer squad who are not certified, as a Union position. Giguere said this will save the city money as this position would go through the PERS system instead of the Ohio Police and Fire Pension.)
Continuing in the report of the Personnel Committee meeting: Wheeler spoke about FLSA exemption Changes. She explained the guidelines required to meet the Fair Labor Standards Act status and said the Income Tax Commissioner was classified incorrectly, which needs to be changed.
The Public Works Superintendent, Public Works Assistant Superintendent, Water Reclamation Plant Superintendent and Assistant Chief of Police all need to be reclassified, and updated.
Also as part of the Report of the Personnel Committee: Wheeler said that changes need to made dealing with monetary and budgetary items – The first position was the Fire Captain/EMT whose hours need to be changed to 40 a week, which will put this position at a pay wage scale of $4784 per year at the minimum rate.
There was a great deal of discussion on this suggested update.; the First Assistant Fire Chief position required some changes as; Construction/Maintenance position includes about fourteen people. Some job duties were removed from the job description.
Wheeler said there is no progression for an increase currently to encourage them to further their education.
There was discussion about what that would mean for the city financially.; the Working Foreman job duties were updated which increased their point factor analysis thus moving them up the pay scale; The accounts payable position will save the city over $30,000 annually by reducing this position to part time.
The largest portion of the Personnel Committee Meeting was spent in discussion about the Clerk of Council position.
From the Minutes, Wheeler “said that it needs to be moved to a part time position. She said they would create an Administrative Assistant to the Public Service Director which would also be part time that would be added to the current Clerk of Council to make a full-time position as she is already doing these city duties.
Councilor Schneider asked about making it one full time position as opposed to two part time positions.
Sarah said the job duties are so different that you cannot make it one full-time position and we currently have an employee on city property without a direct supervisor.
She said two separate job descriptions would be better for the city legally. Sarah said the other option is just reducing the position to part-time.
President Chamberlin said just adding the additional duties under the Clerk of Council job description would solve the issue as well.
Councilor Schneider said if we make it two different positions, what is the guarantee for the clerk to maintain full-time benefits? Sarah Wheeler said no position is guaranteed.
President Chamberlin said he sees this as an atom to circumvent the charter, where it states the clerk is supervised by the President of Council because of the issues during the evaluation process.
Councilor Scott Stiriz said he think this is a power play by the mayor to try to control council. Sarah Wheeler said it is not an attempt to do anything.
Tom McWatters said the Clerk of Council position was initially set to be paired with the Human Resource position to make it a full time position.
President Chamberlin said he is happy with the way it is right now as a full time position.
Councilor Scott Stiriz said he used to ask the clerk to do things for him as a council member, but was told by the mayor that it wasn’t the clerk’s job to do it.
Sarah stated it is only a 25 hour per week position per the time study completed by the clerk a few months ago. She said we either need to add this additional job description or the clerk will be reduced to part time.
Sarah said city work cannot be completed under the clerk of council job description. Councilor Scott Stiriz asked who makes the decision on if the position is full-time or part-time.
Councilor Schneider said he is in favor of the Clerk of Council position remaining full time and if in the future something changes, it can be revisited.
Council President Chamberlin asked if the Personnel Committee made a recommendation to include the city job duties on the Current Clerk of Council job description, would this be followed? Sarah Wheeler said she advises against it.
There was a lot of discussion on the options for this position. The committee members said they would discuss this position at a later.”
The committee then approved a motion made by Chamberlin and seconded by Scott Stiriz to “accept the recommended updates to the job descriptions presented except item #2, the Clerk of Council/Administrative Assistant to the Director of Public Service positions.” It passed unanimously.
At the March 1, 2021 Regular Council meeting, Chamberlin recommended that motion to be accepted by the full council, “tabling the topic for a while,” which was done unanimously, adding that they would come back to it at a later date.
Mayor Huner spoke briefly about her Mayor’s Annual Report, saying that if there are any questions on the 52 page report, to please contact her or the department head with whom it is concerned.
She thanked everyone for getting through 2020 so well, considering what a rough year it was, specifically mentioning the City employees and residents. President Chamberlin thanked Giguere for the detailed list of where all the COVID money was spent.
He then asked if even though their reports are thoroughly written in the Mayor’s Annual Report, would it be ok for the Department Heads, who were present, to share a few highlights verbally during the Council meeting.
Mayor Huner said that would be fine, so each one of them spoke briefly about how well their departments had stepped up during the COVID crisis.
With no further business, the meeting which began promptly at 5:00, as always, adjourned at 6:00.
Rebecca can be reached at publisher@thevillagereporter.com