Harrington council meets via teleconference

HARRINGTON – The City Council met via teleconference on Nov. 12, chaired by Mayor Nathan Luck in the presence of council members David Buddrius, Peter Davenport, Justin Slack, Stephen Hardy and Levi Schenk, as well as Janice Cepeda (city clerk), Mike Cronrath (city treasurer), Marge Womach and Cherie MacClellan. Mike Cronrath provided the treasurer’s report that had been sent out by email in two formats for the clerk and mayor to forward to the council. There were a lot of bank fees for the past month, and Cronrath will check with the bank to clear that up and have the money refunded. He said he plans to work with the BIAS (accounting) system to learn more about the program and make it easier for the clerk to work with him and provide for greater reporting efficiency.

Stephen Hardy provided information on the update of the City Policy Handbook, which attorneys have prepared and council will fine-tune. The committee consists of Hardy and David Buddrius, with Mayor Luck joining them for discussions. In speaking to the Council, Hardy made it clear that when he referenced “changes” that he was referring to changes from the attorneys’ version, not from the current-use handbook.

“We’ve gone through about two-thirds of the handbook, and we will not take a vote tonight,” Hardy said. Three major sticking points in the handbook were discussed.

The first was the section on nepotism. Since the City of Harrington is not large enough to allow it to be too restrictive, Hardy said, the committee would just as soon remove the nepotism section from the handbook for simplicity’s sake and let the council decide in each case whether personnel were qualified regardless of their relationship to council members.

The second issue was overtime and involved two concepts: The concepts of “waiting to be engaged” vs. “engaged to be waiting”. Discussions centered on emergency situations, call-back time, pay rates, counting overtime, restrictions on the use of alcohol, payment while waiting, rounding off of hours, default tasks, etc. Hardy said the city does not have the luxury of being able to pay people when it receives nothing in return. The degree to which an employee is free to engage in personal activities is key to the waiting.

The third issue was separation of employment, which Hardy said occurs one of three ways: 1) Involuntary termination (firing) with cause, 2) retirement and 3) voluntary separation of employment. New rules for accrual of benefits were discussed with some specificity: Involuntary termination results in no payout of leave, retirement would receive a payout, and voluntary separation would be dependent on the situation. Most of the council seemed inclined to prefer a use it or lose it approach, citing that it is healthier for an employee to take time off rather than to use vacation pay as additional financial compensation. The community relations committee, consisting of Hardy, Davenport and Luck, is also reviewing the handbook.

The tax levy issue was discussed briefly. Council decided to have a special meeting once public notice is provided and must be done by Nov 30. The special meeting was set for Nov. 24, Tuesday, at 6 p.m. It is one of the biggest sources of funding for the city. Davenport asked what the current levy is, but no one had that information at hand.

Brief mention was made of the McGregor building’s propane tank having been installed, and Mayor Luck stated that he will email the council with the prices he obtained for the cost of propane for the building.

A long discussion occurred over the Lions Club’s need for storage for the cemetery flags, the Christmas decorations and the park tables. When the purchase of the cemetery flags was organized, no plans were made for storage of the flags until their arrival. At that time, the flags were stored in the basement of city hall, but it is not a very convenient location. Council member Slack said he sent out an email requesting that a decision be made at the Dec. meeting. The issue has been undecided for a long time. One council member said there was pushback from some cemetery donors, especially one very important person, regarding placement of a storage facility at the cemetery. Council also discussed other options, such as the county shed that houses the old fire truck, the old fire station near the recycling area or finding a space other than the cemetery for a cargo unit. The poor condition of the present cemetery building was discussed at some length. Apparently, a tree limb crashed through the roof and east side of the building at some point. The former purpose of the cemetery shed was to house the water system controls and store the lawn mowing equipment and some of the park tables. The discussion recognized how helpful the Lions Club has been to the city through the years. Davenport asked if members of the Lions were voting on this. Hardy stated that if he was asked not to vote he could recuse himself. The City does not have a written obligation to the Lions Club for providing storage for these projects they have taken on. It was suggested to “kill two birds with one stone”, the cemetery shed needs serious repair or replacement. The difficulty of getting in and out of the cemetery in the winter raised yet another issue.

Just prior to adjournment, Luck asked the council if everyone got a copy of the email he sent out earlier that day, then said, “We have had some conflicts on part of an article that was written (Odessa Record 8-20-2020). Wording that is just difference of opinion, no action, just opinion. Read that section and answer the question whether it states that Harrington is growing Covid.” Davenport was first to respond, “I was in city hall today, and Nathan and Marge Womach were present. It is ambiguous but it does not state that Harrington is growing Covid in our sewer system.” Luck asked if anyone else had comments, opinions or thoughts on it. Hardy responded in part, “I do not think that the statements made by Councilman Slack on the matter were inappropriate concerns, given the possibility of the misinterpretation of what was written in the article.” Buddrius said he did not think that the article says that Harrington is growing Covid, and that he tended to agree with Councilman Davenport. Luck asked Schenk if he had any comment, and he responded, “It does not say that Harrington is growing Covid, but it is a misrepresentation of what Stephen did say.” Slack himself did not address the issue. The sentences in the Record in August were: “Mention was made by Hardy that he had read that some cities are testing their sewer for coronavirus, and maybe Harrington needs to see whether our city is growing it. Accordingly, this is a potential means of predicting an outbreak of COVID coming locally.”