Cloverdale approves salaries in end-of-year meeting

Thursday, January 1, 2015

CLOVERDALE -- The changing of the salary ordinance proved to be a point of contention for the Cloverdale Town Council during its end of the year meeting on Tuesday evening.

Due to recent changes within the towns utilities department, an amendment to the salary ordinance had to be done before the first of the year in hopes of hiring several new employees.

Taking advice from financial advisor Steve Brock -- who put together a salary survey based on an Indiana Association of Cities and Towns (IACT) for 2012 and a select community survey around the same population as Cloverdale -- Clerk-treasurer Cheryl Galloway created the new ordinance, which gave select employees a raise as well as established salaries for the open positions of utility manager and equipment operator.

Galloway advised that the new town manager will make $41,000, the utility manager will be hired in at $35,000 and the equipment operator will be hired at $31,200. The waste water treatment manager is currently contracted out at a cost of $42,000 with the water treatment manager, Richard Saucerman, making $43,680. It was also noted that the utility laborer, Mark Couch, who holds a Class I license as well as a CDL will be making $31,200. However, Couch is on track to soon earn his Class II license, which will bump him up to $41,536.

"You need to pay people what they are worth," Council President Coweta Patton said. "This way, you'll get more quality people in here and hopefully keep them for a longer amount of time instead of back and forth all the time. We're losing workers because we are not paying them. That's the problem."

Reflecting back on the IACT survey, which suggests that the town pay its employees even more than the new ordinance -- council member Gary Bennington disagreed with the $10,000 raise for Couch after he received his Class II, thus voted against the salary ordinance.

"The $10,000 raise is what the big problem is with me," Bennington said. "He started at $12 and he moved up and you gave him $1,000 there and now you want me to give him another $10,000. I don't think a Class II is worth $10,000. I just think it's too much of a raise."

Galloway noted that by giving Couch the $10,000 raise once he earned his Class II license, the town would end up saving $42,000 as he would then take the place of the waste water treatment manager, which is currently being contracted out.

"You get rid of these guys and then you're paying him that," Galloway said. "I'm just trying to get them to where, when they look at these salary ordinances they feel like they're being compensated. Plus, we're taking away their overtime. He's worth every penny of it. Let's pay him what he's worth."

Fearing that an agreement would not be reached, Town Attorney Allan Yackey advised that the only salary that could not be changed is that of an elected official. Thus, Yackey advised that the council pass the salary ordinance with the number Bennington had in mind and revisit it at a later date.

"If someone is qualified I think we should pay him," council member Larry Fidler said. "He's not qualified yet, but when he becomes qualified we raise his pay. He may get two raises this year, but his job position will be changing twice. You're going to take the wind out of his sail if you say that you're not going to pay him if he gets his Class II."

Saying very little, Bennington reluctantly agreed with the rest of the council to pass the ordinance so the town can move forward with the hiring of new employees.

Galloway also gave the council a brief update on the town's end of the year financials, which are in great shape as it was noted that within the general fund itself had $608,882 budgeted with $522,617.11 being spent along with $540,392.59 coming in as revenue.

The MVH fund had a budgeted amount of $133,328 with $131,425.72 of revenue and $11,755.07 being dispersed. The LR&S fund had a budgeted amount of $13,105 with $11,189.61 of revenue and $11,752.69 being disbursed. The riverboat fund had a budgeted amount of $20,000 with $12,866.76 or revenue and $10,272 being dispersed. The CCI fund had a budgeted amount of $8,438 with $9,950.87 of revenue and $3,339.20 being disbursed. The CCD fund had a total of $80,564 budgeted with $33,627.25 of revenue and $78,735.44 being dispersed. However, the council had previously approved an appropriation of $90,000 to cover the expenses of paying off the town hall as well as a new police car. The EDIT fund also had a budget of $100,000 with $52,845.24 of revenue and $211,314.39 being dispersed. The council had also approved a $150,000 appropriation, which was used to help pay for the grant match and the town hall.

The only debt the town now holds is on four bonds -- three waste water and one water bond for a total of $4,399,732.60.

"If I remember correctly it was almost $6 million (we were in debt)," Galloway said. "So, within the last three years we've paid $2 million off on our bonds, which I think is pretty awesome."

In other business:

* The council approved a $1,452 membership fee for the town to be a part of the Indiana Association of Cities and Towns. The fee covers the membership for the entire town.

* The town also approved Ordinance 2014-29, which will bundle the 2011 water bond and the 2003 waste water bond into one. Financial advisor Steve Brock noted that by doing so, the town will be saving $107,000 on both issues together. The bond will be over the same period of time, but will have a much lower interest rate. The water bond had an interest rate of 4.75 percent and will be lowered to 2.5 percent and the waste water bond had an interest rate of 4 percent and will be lowered to 2.25.

* The council approved the purchase of a new alarm system for the town hall from Endeavor Communications at a cost of $1,949.88 with a cost of $24.95 a month of

monitoring.

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