Town acts on surprise resignation

Thursday, May 15, 2008

FILLMORE -- At a sp-ecial meeting of the Fillmore Town Council Tuesday, board members Jeff Osborn, Allen Jones and Wes Terhune voted to approve the job descriptions for one part-time and one full-time water and street maintenance employee.

The resignation of Water Superintendent David Gilley was also accepted.

Gilley resigned earlier in the day, turning in his meter reader and all his books. Within one hour of his resignation, a representative of the state board of health contacted members of the council to say they understood the town no longer had a water superintendent.

Osborn explained the situation to the health department representative, who had no issue with the town's plan to use Bainbridge's water superintendent to fill in on any license issues until a replacement is found for Gilley.

The Indiana Department of Environmental Manag-ement (IDEM) is sending the council a list of qualified candidates for the job.

"We could have gotten the list sooner, but we were hoping to work things out with David," Osborn said. "They will also send us some of their own people to help out if we need them."

Council members approved discontinuing a $500 per month bonus payment to Gilley at the May 2 meeting. The council took some time in reviewing the bonus paid to Gilley, which was for maintaining his credentials. Gilley was paid an annual salary of $18,000 as a part-time employee.

The cost of the Distribution System Small (DSS) certification is about $30 per year. That cost and the cost of any continuing education units are reimbursed by the town.

Further research revealed that IDEM does not require or expect any bonus be paid to town employees for holding the DSS certification.

Council members consulted with several small municipalities in Putnam and Hendricks counties and learned none of them had heard of paying an individual that kind of premium for being qualified to do their job.

They also contacted the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission and the State Board of Accounts, neither of which the council claimed had heard of such a practice.

At the May 2 meeting, Osborn said, "We have done due diligence on this matter. Our attorney advised us when we first took over the board four months ago that this was not legal, and we talked to David in an executive meeting about it."

Gilley, who requested the special meeting Tuesday, was not present. Osborn made the motion to accept the resignation saying, "We regretfully accept the resignation of David Gilley."

Terhune seconded the motion by saying, "If that is what he wants, then I second the motion."

Osborn ended the meeting by saying, "The town is not in anyway in jeopardy. We'll have to do some scrambling."

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