Plymouth Council approves 1.5% mid-year raise for city employees

The Plymouth Common Council met Monday and voted to approve Ordinance 2021-2180 on second and third readings. The ordinance amended Ordinance 20202172 which was an ordinance fixing salaries of appointed officers and employees, fire and police personnel of the City of Plymouth for 2021. It is commonly known as the 2021 Salary Ordinance.

“I believe this represents a 1.5 percent pay increase. It will take effect for the pay period of June 21 and that’s what’s payable July 15,” said Clerk-treasurer Jeanine Xaver.

Xaver went on to say that the ordinance did not address elected officials because salaries for elected officials must be adopted before the end of the year prior to being earned.

“I will note that at the last meeting, one of the councilmen commented that they were considering the ordinance because the department’s are staying under budget. Therefore, I will not be asking the state for permission to spend cash on hand for the raises. The department’s will be expected to adjust their spending within their budgets to allow for any raises they intend to give,” said Xaver.

Council Member Robert Listenberger asked that if a department didn’t have enough funds for the raise, would that department have to cut labor to meet the budget.

“No,” Xaver said. “They can cut capital. They need to stay within their overall budget.”

Xaver went on to say that she “always allow for contingencies in the budget” and that “there should be plenty.”

“Theoretically, if there were not plenty, you’d require additional appropriation,” asked Council Member Jeff Houin.

“Yes, state law does not allow you to overspend the budget,” replied Xaver.

“So, theoretically, when we get closer to the end of the year and it appears that it may get tight, we could always do an additional appropriation at that time,” said Houin.

Xaver replied that an additional appropriation would be considered.

After no other discussion, the City Council voted unanimously to pass the ordinance by roll call vote on second and third readings.

In other council business, a $1,000 donation from Centier Bank for the Mayor’s Month of Music was accepted.

The council voted to deny a request from the owner of 711 N. Center Street. The owner stated that the property was cleaned up before she received the notice to clean the property.

Xaver stated that after the notice is sent, the property owner has ten days to comply with the notice. When asked, Chief David Bacon stated that notices are sent through the regular mail and are not sent registered. Pictures of the property before cleanup were taken on April 1, the same day the notice was sent, and the cleanup took place on April 14. The owner was not present during the meeting to explain the request.

Another request centered on 811 W. Adams Street. It was another property that had a notice to clean the property, but it was not done so the City cleaned it.

“The resident did come out the morning they cleaned up. There was communication. They did work with her as far as what was taken and what she wanted kept,” said Chief Bacon.

The request was to reconsider the fees. The council passed a motion to deny the request.

Resolution 2021-952 was presented to the council. That was a resolution that provided for the transfer of appropriations in the General Fund Fire Department, as requested by Fire Chief Steve Holm.

“What this has to do with is, we want to purchase a new Lifepak 15 monitor. The monitor is basically kind of the heart and soul of our patient assessment. It does all of our rhythms, blood pressures, so on and so forth, defibrillation,” Holm said.

The fire chief went on to say that they have an older unit, a Lifepak 12, which is just over 20 years old. “It’s the last one to be replaced,” said Holm. The unit also doesn’t synch with the computers.

During budget time last year, the department had budgeted $18,000. They had hoped to find a refurbished model, but have been unsuccessful.

The cost of a new model can be as high as $32,000. A trade-in for a cot that the department no longer use will reduce the price by $2,500. The budget also allows for $7,500 for the replacement of pagers, but Holm stated that the department did not need the pagers this year.

“All in all, it comes down to about a $4,500 shortfall after those different things come in. We would like to transfer $6,000 in order to cover that cost plus any other incidentals that there may be,” said Holm.

The $6,000 would come from the department’s Health Insurance fund which Holm said there enough funds to do so.

The council approved the resolution. Resolution 2021-953 was presented to the council. It is a resolution of the City of Plymouth declaring certain real estate to be within an Economic Revitalization Area. Marshall County Economic Development Corporation Project Manager Greg Hildebrand stated that the resolution was the first step in the tax abatement process for DAC Enterprise Inc.

Hildebrand stated that the company was asking for “about three-quarters of a million dollars in expenditures. About $450,000 of that would be in real estate and close to $300,000 of that would be in personal property for manufacturing equipment.”

The council approved the resolution. There will be a public hearing at the next council meeting.