Huntingburg Council: Boil order, street closure, water main break text alerts available
Jim O’Neal, WITZ News Director, contributed to this report.
“Why’s my water cloudy?”
“What streets are closed?”
“I think I saw something on Facebook.”
The Huntingburg Council approved a proposal from Director Of Communication and Community Development Rachel Steckler to add text and email alerts for utility issues. The city’s website designed by eGov has a widget called eNotify that allows residents to sign up for the text or email alerts for emergency situations.
Steckler stated the system would be used for utility issues such as a boil order or street closure; not natural disasters.
Huntingburg, Jasper and Ferdinand all use eGov as their website provider and after approval by the other two municipalities, the cost will be split three ways for about $2,500 each for three years of service.
One reason the three are sharing the cost is due to residents living in one community and working in another. This would allow them to receive updates in either area that could affect them.
Along the same lines but more for emergencies of the natural variety, the city is updating the call-in system for residents to use in case of flooding or other weather-related issues.
According to Office Manager Sue Tooley, along with the updated call-in system, a list of expectations will be added to the city’s website to inform residents of step-by-step processes by the city during a natural emergency like flooding.
This information prompted a discussion on the extra pay for on-call utility employees. According to Mayor Denny Spinner, the rate of pay has remained the same since 2006. Under the current ordinance, workers receive an extra $59.00 for being on-call for a seven day period and the city utility superintendents have requested an increase.
Because of a decrease in the cost of the call-in system, Mayor Spinner recommended that the council raise the pay commensurate with other cities and towns.
The council passed a motion for City Attorney Phil Schneider to create an ordinance that would raise the rate of pay for on-call employees. A recommendation was made that would increase the rate to about $80 per 7-day period.
A stipend was also discussed for use of personal cell phones by the employees.
The council also took the following actions.
–Heard an update from Amanda Smith and Arlet Jackle on efforts to revitalize the Dubois County Leadership Academy. The academy is for community members who either serve in a leadership capacity or would like to learn how to become better leaders. Jasper, Huntingburg and Ferdinand are the group’s sponsoring municipalities. The 2015 academy class has seven enrolled, the lowest since its inception. Jackle and Smith are enrolled in the academy and have taken the project on as their group’s capstone project. They presented a plan to double participation in the 2016 class by increasing visibility through social media and re-branding efforts including the addition of a website and brochure.
–Approved the purchase of a spare transformer from Ermco for the electric department for $8,550.00. Reutepohler told the council that they need to keep one on-hand at all times in the event of such and emergency.
–Approved the purchase of a Bobcat mini excavator for Gas & Electric for the price of $32,328 at Hopf Equipment in Huntingburg after trade-in of the Gas & Electric Utility’s old excavator.
–Approved the purchase of a Bobcat mini excavator for $54,323 from Hopf Equipment for the Water Utility.
Regarding the issue of additional on-call pay for designated Utility (and I believe Street and Park) employees, those employees already receive “extra pay,” so to clarify – this is not something new – it would simply be for an increase in that pay.
According to the meeting video just shown on WJTS and unless I missed something, the motion by McPherron was for a draft to raise the amount but with the amount left blank pending further discussion at the next or future meeting. The increase to $80 was proposed and discussed, but because of lone dissenting comments by Blackgrove who could not offer an alternate amount or whether it should remain the same (he couldn’t support or explain his position other than the amount was too much), the others backed off even though most spoke out in support of the increase, which is still significantly below that of Jasper ($100, I believe) and long overdue.
When there’s five members and only one of them spoke in opposition to this with no real credibility, there’s no excuse for why the others lacked the resolve or leadership to simply plug in the proposed numbers and recommend moving forward to the point of a vote, which must happen anyway. Kudos to McPherron and the three others in support, but they must not allow a lone and lame dissenter to scare them off and hold up a process, waste time, etc. Move it forward and allow a vote. That said, I actually believe the amount should become $100 – one increase in nearly 20 years doesn’t cut it. Same with utility rates – better to increase them in less-significant amounts necessary every few years than to hold out for 10-15 years and then have to shock and rock the ratepayers.