MENTONE – Four Mentone town employees have a lot of comp time on their hands.
Monday night, the town council came up with a solution for it.
During the Nov. 7 meeting, town marshal Jim Eads reported he had 40 hours of comp time and deputy Terry Engstrand had 46-1/4 hours. Eads said they would like to be paid for it.
Utilities Superintendent Eric Carlin mentioned he had more than 100 hours of comp time, and his employee, Josh Shepherd, also has comp time.
Council President Tim Croy, at Monday’s meeting, said, “My thought is, two years ago or more, we did away with carrying comp time over year to year. It had to be used quarterly or it was lost.”
For this year, Croy suggested, the town would issue all four an extra paycheck for comp time. Any comp time earned in December could be carried over to next year because the town employees can’t use it all by the end of the year.
Then, Croy said, the town will go back to not carrying comp time over from year to year.
“We need to try to get away from it because we’re not budgeting for comp time,” Croy said.
He made a motion to give town employees an extra paycheck for their comp time this year, and then go back to not carrying comp time over year to year from now on. The council unanimously approved.
“I think it seems fair,” Eads said.
Clerk-Treasurer Barb Ross said the council does have it in writing that town employees are suppose to use their comp time every quarter.
Eads also reported he got quotes for new vehicles for the police department.
At the Nov. 7 meeting, Eads asked if he should get quotes for a new police vehicle. The council told him to get quotes for a pickup and a Crown Victoria car.
The quotes for pickups range from $28,400 to $30,394, Eads reported Monday. A quote for a Crown Victoria car was $23,450.
If they buy a new vehicle, Eads said they will sell the 2005 truck out right as a civilian vehicle after taking the equipment out of it.
Clerk-Treasurer Barb Ross said the town has $17,000 in new equipment this year. The council will have to decide which vehicle they want, then Eads would have to get a purchase order to encumber the funds this year for next year.
Croy made a motion to put it off until next year, which was unanimously approved.
Carlin reported the new 36-inch storm tile installed this summer seems to be doing what it’s supposed to be doing. A year ago this time, he said, the whole north end of town would be under water, and this year it’s not. He said he hoped the town residents appreciated the improvement.
On Dec. 23, Croy reported, Santa Claus will travel with the fire department from house to house for a food drive for Jerry & Mary’s Helping Hands, a food pantry that serves the Tippecanoe Valley School Corp. district’s needy families.
If people leave their lights on and make a food donation, Santa Claus will stop at their house to pick up the food donation.
If someone does not want Santa Claus to stop by, but want to make a donation, they can drop off donations at the fire department.
It starts at 6 p.m. Dec. 23, and will go until approximately 9:30 p.m.
