Aragon council looking at policy changes this month

♦ Seiz seeks to enact updates to involve council in decisionmaking process

Policy changes being sought by an Aragon City Council member will be up for debate and vote during this Thursday’s meeting set for a 7 p.m. start.

Conversations over the items being sought for a vote by council member Candace Seiz include what work will be needed to complete policy and changes to Aragon’s charter to give greater control over matters with the council.

Among those changes she seeks is a clear written policy on rules for use of city-owned vehicles once they leave Aragon’s immediate borders, which at the moment isn’t on paper. Seiz wants to establish a clear 25-mile radius rule for using cityowned vehicles, unless the mileage beyond that limit is being done for work-related

Her rule change would also seek to require council approval for any business beyond the 25-mile range, and would provide penalties for those who defy the rule and are caught including potential termination.

She also wants to address the policies for hiring and firing of an employee.

According to the agenda sent out last week to the council and made available to the Standard Journal, her reading of the policy and charter does not “provide a clear answer.”

“We have asked in the past for the policy to be changed, so that the council can be involved in the process,” Seiz’s request stated in the agenda. “We were told that we would have to change the charter, but I did not see anything in the charter that indicates that we can’t be involved.”

Continuing on, Seiz also wants a policy in place that all spending be approved by the city’s financial consultant before being completed, that

any spending done outside of that and expected to be repaid to an employee will not immediately be done, or pay the city back for the purchase if city funds were used without permission.

Also, mandates over when the police chief is scheduled to work, over technology policy and password protection of employee accounts, and over employees reporting potential retaliation by administration is among other topics Seiz wants addressed.

As well as one more she feels is vitally important for the future: making sure each employee hired reads and understands city policies and procedures, and standard operating procedures if they are hired for the Aragon Police Department.

“It is important for everyone to know and understand the policies,” Seiz wrote in her submission for the agenda. “It seems as if we are spending a lot of time on damage control here lately. It is not fair to the taxpayers when we have standards and policies in place for a reason. If the employees see that we need

to add to the standards and/ or policies, then they need to bring that to the council’s attention.”

In addressing all of these issues on the agenda this Thursday, Seiz said her goal is to find a greater balance within the city between the powers of the Mayor and the Council.

“I feel that the policy changes and updates I want to make are for botht he protection and best interest of our employees and Aragon citizens,” Seiz said. “Due to some of the recent circumstances that have occurred within the city, I felt it necessary to address these specific issues.”

Council members are also set to address comes after a late July special session where the council sold the city’s K-9 dog Nero to the White Police Department for $4,000.

Aragon at the time gave the City of White the opportunity to seek to purchase the equipment already bought for Nero’s use in the field as well during the previous July special session.

They’ll also in the October session seek to look at and

vote on the Duncan Mill Pond property lease, an appointment of Ralph Davenport to the proposed Land Bank, a first reading of a false alarm ordinance, and changes to the bylaws of the planning committee that allows them to change their meeting schedule from a “shall have a meeting” to “may have a meeting” when necessary.

The October regular session comes on the heels of a special called meeting last Tuesday at city hall for the council, which immediately went into an executive session to discuss personnel matters. No decisions were made in the aftermath of the executive session.

Despite the previous position to address at this meeting the placing former interim chief Alison Taulbee on administrative leave with pay pending the completion of an investigation into allegations made in September, the council does not have that on the agenda.

They also don’t have any executive session planned as well for this Thursday’s session.