Cloverdale council looks into financial issues once again

Saturday, March 23, 2013

CLOVERDALE -- The Cloverdale Town Council met for a special session Thursday evening in hopes of resolving several issues, including overtime for town employees.

During its monthly meeting on Tuesday, March 12, the council made the decision to take away all overtime for town employees in hopes of saving enough money to repay the $100,000 that was mistakenly taken from the general fund to pay for the wastewater fund.

"The auditors came out and audited the town council and they found a number of things that were not right," Town Attorney Alan Yackey said. "If you remember, we had a lot of problems. This is probably one of the larger ones and basically what the audit report says is 'fix it.'"

The mistake occurred in October 2011, and the town is now struggling to find ways to repay that money.

"If you don't pay it back, at some point that will come back at you," explained Yackey. "So, this is something that should have been addressed when the auditor came. If you don't pay it back, there will be another significant rate increase in wastewater."

Clerk-Treasurer Cheryl Galloway came before the council to propose a loan of $100,000 to cover the mistake to be paid back over a period five years with no interest. The money will be taken out of the wastewater fund and put back into the general fund.

"I don't understand how a town can run in the red and then go out and spend more money," Council member Dennis Padgett said. "This is not trying to play catch up, this is bad and poor management."

Padgett voiced his opinion on several issues regarding finances, including poor bookkeeping and paying for a second lawyer for the previous clerk-treasurer when the town was already in financial trouble.

"There's a lot of waste that shouldn't be here," Padgett said. "There's a lot of laws on the books that shouldn't be. From 2008 when Patty left, all the records went missing. The books have never been right since. When they did all that stuff, it really screwed up this town big time."

Despite his effort, the council voted to pass Ordinance 2013-1, which will loan money from the town's wastewater fund to the general fund.

By passing this new ordinance, the town hopes to resolve the issues surrounding the issue of overtime.

Several town employees showed up to voice concerns during the special meeting. None of them were in support of the executive order banning overtime.

"I don't think it's fair to myself or my employees," Utility Manager Rich Saucerman said. "We're always going to have emergency situations."

Saucerman and his employees had a valid argument, when it comes to their type of work, you cannot have a set schedule due to snowfall or water main breaks.

"You have dedicated employees that come in every time I call," Saucerman said. "I'm not here to collect all the overtime I can. I'm here to get the job done and without over time we can't."

It was previously suggested the utility workers watch their hours during the week. If a leak or a snowfall were to happen, then that person would take the following day off to make up for that time worked.

However, with the spring weather coming, there is more work to get done and employees cannot be forced to day off during the day shifts due to an emergency during the evening.

"To me this is the time we need to get together and get the work done," Saucerman said. "If a leak happens and we fix it tonight, then we have to be off tomorrow and what work will be done then? To me, you should just be thankful that we keep the town going and keep the streets clean."

On average each worker has about $6,000 in overtime or $24,000 to take care of the weekends and the holidays each year.

The council decided to rescind the executive order banning overtime for the time being.

However, it was suggested by Council President Don Sublett the council look into hiring a consultant to see what types of things the town can do to save money to keep overtime going.

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  • When is the Town of Cloverdale going to get an elected official who understands bookkeeping? Mr. Padgett and Mr. Sublett, these things occurred on your watch! YOU are responsible!

    Just once, I'd like to read about a meeting that is not being led by the attorney at a cost of $175-250/hr.

    Aren't the elected officials capable of running their own meetings? There's an opportunity to save money!

    And, instead of hiring another consultant, why not elect somebody who understands financial management?

    -- Posted by letspulltogether on Sat, Mar 23, 2013, at 7:04 AM
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