Huntingburg Council meeting notes for September 24

The Huntingburg Council held their regular meeting on September 24 and took the following actions.

-Clerk/Treasurer Tom Dippel introduced the 2014 proposed budget of $9,120,432. A maximum property tax rate of about $1.29 per $100 assessed value will be submitted to the Department of Local Government and Finance for approval. This is a high estimate and will likely be less upon final approval by the state.

– Heard from James Zellman with Honeywell, about improving the city’s energy efficiency. Honeywell has been conducting a study of the city’s buildings over the past month to create what they call a guaranteed energy savings project. Honeywell engineers identified $153,000 a year in energy savings within the city’s infrastructure. It would take six years to begin to realize the potential energy cost savings with a potential outlay of $1 million to $2.5 million in improvements to the city’s infrastructure and buildings. No decision was made but the council will consider issuing a request for proposal to implement the changes. Honeywell James Zellman said if Tell City and Jasper were to take on a capitol energy improvement plan the savings could be greater for all three cities.

-Heard a report about the development of the Comprehensive Plan from Tom Kohler with Orlando-based Real Estate Research Consultants, Inc. A story is available here.

-Introduced the new salary ordinance incorporating merit-based pay raises into the 2014 budget. The new plan calls for a standard 1 percent raise for employees and a maximum of 2 percent raise for employees with approval from the mayor and Human Resources director. Supervisors will be going through some training on how the new merit-based system will work and raises will not be implemented until March 1, 2014 to allow time for the employee review process to be completed the first time. Employees can also receive no raise but this also must be reviewed by the mayor and Human Resources director before being approved. The ordinance will be considered for approval at the September 10 meeting.

-Bid Tony Traylor, Water Superintendent, goodbye. He gave his last report to the council before his effective resignation date. Traylor is taking a position in Indianapolis with Citizens Energy Group and his last day will be October 4. Mayor Spinner credited Traylor with leading the reorganization of the city’s utility departments from a one superintendent over water, gas and electricity to two utilities superintendents, one for water and one for gas and electricity. According to the mayor, this reorganization will allow a smoother transition from Traylor to the next water utility superintendent. The city is currently advertising the position.