Harrington council discusses coronavirus funds

HARRINGTON – City Council met at city hall on Aug. 11 with the following in attendance: Mayor Nathan Luck; Clerk Jere Lee; Councilmen Justin Slack, Peter Davenport, David Buddrius, Stephen Hardy and Levi Schenk; visitors Joe Armand, Jess and Cynthia Silhan and seven others viewing on YouTube. Council approved the minutes with corrections and the bills. Schenk voiced opposition to the city subscribing to newspapers, saying he thought the library should pay for them.

At issue was the Memorial Hall custodian, which has become a sporadic cleaning by the current employee, who was not listed on the payroll checks for the past month.

The city clerk has received an offer to accept the custodian job if the position is available. The applicant seemed willing to clean after each event or follow a schedule. The clerk also mentioned that the condition of the hall does not show that anyone has cleaned lately and that there should be a schedule and checking in with the clerk before and after cleaning, ensuring that proper hours are recorded.

Council discussed instituting a refundable fee. The renter would be charged the normal $70 fee plus an additional $200 refundable fee for cleaning afterward. If adequately cleaned, the renter’s $200 would be returned. Council revisited the $70 fee, noting that it makes the room not a source of revenue but a service that the city provides.

Now the council is discussing whether the building needs to be cleaned if no one rents it for two or three months. No one present could confirm that the current employee was going to clean anymore.

Slack said, "People are not going to beat the door down to have this five-hour-a-week job."

Luck said the city needs to know that the work is getting done and that he doesn't see anything wrong with the employee checking in. No decision was made.

Luck introduced the topic of a "part-time cemetery administrator" as that portion of the city clerk position is an overwhelming burden while trying to learn all the other aspects of the job.

Lee brought out the thick cemetery book with the history of each one of the graves in the original city cemetery.

Conversation with the council turned to, "How would we pay for a new position?"

The discussion was redirected to the Cemetery Endowment Fund.

Slack stated that when he did the budget he wanted "to direct people not to donate to the endowment fund and (former clerk) Bunny (Haugan) wanted endowment money to come in."

Several exclaimed, "We are hamstrung with it (the endowment fund).”

No one appeared to know under what conditions money could be taken from the fund. Discussion concerning the formation of a cemetery district or a cemetery board continued. Slack stated that Bunny was against a cemetery board, but he did not know why.

No action was taken on a part-time cemetery administrator.

The final topic for the council was American Rescue Plan money. The city acknowledged having trouble with meter reading and billing, which has a domino effect. The city plans to replace water meters at regular intervals. Other topics included the city water tank and smart meters. They left an open-ended question of the potential uses of funds. No action was taken.