Village worker raise recommended
- Published: August 18, 2011
At the Aug. 1 regular Village Council meeting, Village Manager Mark Cundiff recommended that Village staff receive a 2 percent annual raise for all regular full and part-time employees, retroactive to July 3. Council members expressed support for the recommendation, which will return to Council as a resolution at its Aug. 15 meeting.
The Village did not budget 2011 pay increases for Village employees during the budget planning process at the beginning of the year, since at that point the fate of the May property tax levy was unclear. Since the levy passed, Cundiff requested that the Village provide a raise in line with other municipal employee annual pay hikes.
After researching the 2011 municipal employee average and Greene County public employee average, Cundiff reported that 2 percent was an appropriate amount. The total 2 percent increase would equate to a total increase of $59,263 in the Village budget.
• Council voted unanimously to enter into a three-year contract for solid waste collection.
The vote was 4–0 in favor of the Rumpke contract, with Council member Rick Walkey absent.
There was no discussion of the issue at the meeting, as it had been discussed extensively in two previous meetings.
The Village had issued a Request for Proposal, or RFP, for the contract and received bids from both Rumpke, which has serviced the village’s solid waste needs for about 20 years, and the national company Waste Management. Originally, Cundiff recommended that the Village choose Waste Management because its bid was slightly lower, but Council members, responding to feedback from villagers, stated their preference for Rumpke, which has earned a reputation for reliability and responsiveness to problems.
• In his manager’s report, Cundiff reported that vandalism appeared to have taken place at the Skate Park in recent weeks. Recently a resident reported that a portion of the fence around the park had been disconnected and the fence pulled back. After the Village repaired the fence, it was vandalized again, but the vandalism appears to have ended, Cundiff said.
• Cundiff also reported on the July 22 power outage at the Village water treatment plant. Staff discovered that a large tree had fallen onto the primary electric line that feeds the plant, and later discovered more downed trees and lines. Because the plant abuts Glen Helen, the number of trees around lines proved obstacles to the electric crew, and Arbor Care was called in to cut a path through the trees. They responded quickly, Cundiff said. The Village issued a Code Red call that night asking residents to conserve water, since it was unknown when the power would be restored.
Electric crew head Kelley Fox placed a mutual aid call to AMP, the Village’s municipal electric supplier, and crews from Lebanon, Hamilton, and an AMP forestry crew responded. Power was restored to the water plant on Saturday afternoon.
Cundiff thanked the electric crew, Arbor Care, CMP and water plant employees for their efforts during the outage. He also thanked village residents who helped by conserving water use during the time the plant was down.
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