Mentone Town Council Considers Not Paying Town Employees For Attending Meetings
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David Slone-dslone@timesuniononline.com
MENTONE – Town employees may not get paid or compensatory time in the future for attending council meetings or executive sessions. During Monday’s regularly monthly council meeting, Council President Tim Croy said the council discussed in a previous executive session not to pay employees for attending board meetings or executive sessions. He made a motion not to pay them for that time. Town Marshal Jim Eads asked why. If it’s mandatory for the employees to come, he said, then why shouldn’t they get paid? Croy said the council wasn’t demanding the employees to come. They would like them to, but it wasn’t mandatory. Eads said that was “crazy,” and then questioned what the council members got paid for. Shelley Krueger said the council does other stuff than meetings like take phone calls and deal with issues. After the brief heated exchange, Croy reiterated his motion to not pay the employees compensatory time for meetings. Neither Krueger or councilwoman Jill Gross provided a second to the motion. Krueger said she wanted more time to think about the issue so it was tabled. Croy also made a motion to limit parking in front of the Mentone Community Emergency Services Building, which was unanimously approved. He initially said he wanted to limit parking out front to when Clerk-Treasurer Barb Ross’s office was open, from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. It was later clarified that Ross’s office was open 8 a.m. to about 3 p.m. Gross suggested limiting it to 15 minutes. Utilities Superintendent Josh Shepherd said he could put a sign up, but wasn’t sure where. The council ended up voting to limit the front parking to 15 minutes from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday. In department reports, Eads said he was contacted by the county prosecutor’s office and through a seizure the Mentone Police Department had, a large sum of money is coming back to the department. A forfeiture fund needs to be set up to receive the money. Gross asked what happens to that money. Eads said he will be looking into that to find out. “We’ve never had a seizure like this before,” Eads said. “I want to see what the rules and regulations are.” The council approved for Eads and Ross to set up the fund. Shepherd reported Certified Landscaping Services did a little drawing for the lot where the former blue dentist office was on Main Street. The building was demolished this year. Some early rough numbers also were provided. “He asked what we wanted but no one knows,” Shepherd stated. Gross asked if the work would be for next year, and Shepherd said it was. “It would be nice to have something there low maintenance,” Croy said. “If we got some community input, that would be nice.” Gross said she’s received some community input. Shepherd then discussed his father-in-law working part time for the town. In the past, Shepherd said he would work through Thanksgiving and then be let go. He would start working part time in April. This last year, however, Shepherd said his father-in-law was let go at Thanksgiving, but returned a week later. “I’d like for him to just stay on working part time. Or at least think about it,” Shepherd told the council. He said his father-in-law usually works 30 to 35 hours a week. Gross said if the town could afford it, she was OK with it. Ross said Shepherd’s father-in-law received $9.50 an hour. Since he’s just part time, there are no benefits. In other business: • Eads said the new stun gun for the police department will be delivered in two to three weeks. At the September meeting, the council approved for Eads to purchase a new one after the stun gun the police department had failed to work. The warranty for the old stun gun was expired. The police department also is looking at either repairing their laptops or buying new ones. Eads said his is having a fan issue, while deputy Terry Engstrand’s is having a start-up issue. Ross asked if they were planning to do that this year, but Eads said they could hold off until next year. Gross asked Eads to provide the council with an update later. • Shepherd reported the new skid loader was delivered Monday. • Croy said he will be gone next month and asked if the council wanted to change its December meeting. The meeting was moved from Dec. 1 to Dec. 8 at 6:30 p.m.
