CHURUBUSCO, Ind. (Nov. 2009) – A year ago the headlines stated that town employees might not see a raise for two, maybe three, years, given the economic climate.

But if the salary ordinance that was approved 2-1 on a first reading Wednesday, Nov. 4, is given final approval Nov. 18, all town employees – with the exception of some elected or appointed positions – will receive a 1 percent raise in 2010.

Frank Kessler and John Hart for the increase on the introduction of the ordinance, with council member Vivian Sade opposed.

Sade has stated at an earlier meeting (see October 26 article below) that she was against any increases – salary, utility rates or otherwise – given the country is in the midst of an economic recession.

Clerk-treasurer Gerri Johnson later recommended that deputy clerk Barb Campbell be raised from a level 2 to a level 3, an increase of $110.42 a week.

“It’s got nothing to do with job performance. Barb does a good job, everyone does a good job, but that’s not the point,” Sade said. “But that would be one heck of a raise.”

“It does seem like a large raise,” Hart said, then asked for more time to think about it. Kessler said the matter would be tabled until the next meeting.

Johnson said Campbell has been deputy clerk for 3 1/2 years. Level three is the highest level attainable for a deputy clerk, according to the current salary ordinance.

Hart – who is employed with the town in two positions -  voted on the salary ordinance, although he abstained from voting on the 2009 salary ordinance.

Currently, Indiana city and town employees who also sit on their own governing board are not legally prohibited from voting on salary ordinances. But, that may change if Gov. Mitch Daniels has his way.

Earlier this year, Daniels asked the Indiana General Assembly to bar local government employees from being elected to the governing body that oversees their job. In an article entitled, “In Indiana, city workers can OK their own raises,” Indianapolis Star reporter Mary Beth Schneider writes about Alfonso Salinas, who voted for a $5,000 raise for he and his fellow streets department foremen in 2009. Salinas, as a Hammond city councilman, offered a motion to amend the city budget and then voted to give himself the money. A investigative review by the Star turned up numerous examples of people voting on matters that increased their own pay and/or benefits, many of them in small towns where resources and elected officials are few and far between.

Salaries for Churubusco employees for 2010, if approved with the one percent increase where applicable (* denotes no increase), would be as follows:

• Town council president (Frank Kessler) – $3,985 annually*
• Town council (John Hart, Vivian Sade) – $3,623*
• Clerk-treasurer elected position (Gerri Johnson) – $8,280*
• Town supervisor (Jeremy Hart) – $3,460
• Town marshal (Chad Fulkerson) – $50,304
• Deputy Marshal 1, 2 and 3 (John Hart, Garry Jones, Adam Swinehart) – $45,677, $34,042, $33,874
• Part-time or reserve officers – $20.05 per hour
• Street and Water supervisor (Jeremy Hart) – $50,314
• Part-time utility employees (John Hart, Larry Hughes, Chad Fulkerson) – Level 1, $18.71 hr.; Level 2, $16.04 hr.; Level 3, $13.36 hr.; Level 4, minimum wage.
• Wastewater supervisor (Bob Hyatt) – $50,304
• Assistant wastewater operators (Bob Gray, John Forker) – Certified, $43,886; non-certified, $33,907
• Utility clerk – Level 1 (Gerri Johnson), $38,949; Level 2 (Barb Campbell), $33,539; Level 3, $27,048; part-time clerical, $10.22 hr.
• Part time park director (Rick Krider) – $20,845
• Part time summer park director – $600* per summer
• Park Board members – $150 annually*
• School crossing guard – $9.89 hr.

In other council business:

• David Pearson, owner of G & K Golf Cars, gave council members samples of other cities’ and towns’ ordinances regulating golf cart usage within town limits. Churubusco currently has no such ordinance. The matter will be discussed more in depth at the Nov. 18 meeting.

by S. Tomlinson for Buscovoice.com

Previous related articles:

Two for, one against, a one percent raise for town employees

CHURUBUSCO, Ind. (Oct. 26, 2009) – Town employees may get a one percent raise in 2010 with one council member saying she would not approve a rate increase of any kind, given the current state of the economy.

“We’re lucky, we are not laying off anyone or cutting jobs like some other cities and towns are being forced to do,” Sade said. “And we have to take the 6.6 percent increase in benefits into consideration.”

The town's new water filtration plant takes shape as it nears completion. (buscovoice photo)

Earlier in the meeting council president Frank Kessler had noted that employee insurance will increase by 6.6 percent next year, and the council approved keeping the policy as is with no changes.

The town currently pays 90 percent of employees’ coverage – an annual premium of $61,048 – which includes dependent coverage.

Kessler agree with Sade that the town valued its employees and there was a need for fiscal responsibility, but said he favored “at least a 1 percent” salary increase for all employees.

“The national average for wage increases this year was 1.8 percent,” Kessler said.

Council member John Hart, who also works for the town’s water department and police department, said he was “kicking around the idea of a 1 or 2 percent increase” for town employees.

“We have fewer employees than other towns our size and these employees deserve something,” Hart said. “Maybe next year we can give a 4 or 5 percent increase.”

The council will vote on the ordinance at their next meeting.

The council agreed to make a level change to the salary ordinance at the water treatment plant. The current ordinance calls for a minimum wage level and then jumps to a level three at $13.23 per hour – an increase of almost $6 an hour. A new level  will be added with the started wage of $10.12 an hour, the same as stipulated for a part-time clerical.

A minimum wage level employee at the wastewater treatment plant is due to advance to the next level, Kessler said.

Town superintendent Jeremy Hart added that several town employees would be moving up to the next level by the end of the year.

In other business:

• The new water filtration plant for the Town of Churubusco is nearing completion, Mark Jesse of Bonar Engineering told council members. Jesse presented two change orders for the water filtration plant as well as for the water tank renovation, which has been completed. The town had a contingency fund of $230,200 for any additional changes built into the original budget for the two projects. The water tower additional changes totaled $6,550 and water treatment plant changes totaled $49,519.
• Kessler approved and signed the sewer agreement for the new Blue River senior apartment complex under construction at Clingerman Avenue and Line Street.
• The council tabled a decision on a petition to vacate an alley behind a property on south Line Street near the fire station. A neighbor, Ron Bowser, was present with his attorney, Al Hofer, who said they were still in negotiations with the petitioner, Jodie Hively, and her attorney, Greg Hockemeyer, but needed more time to work things out.

The next meeting will be Wednesday,  Nov. 4, at 6:30 p.m. at the Town Hall.

CHURUBUSCO, Ind. (Oct. 13, 2009) — Three Southside business owners voiced objects against a proposed annexation at a public hearing held Tuesday night at the Town Hall.

Dick Conrow, owner of C & A Tool Engineering, was accompanied by two others from C & A Tool, Rob Marr and Ward Krouse. He told town council members -  John Hart, Frank Kessler and Vivian Sade – that the side effects of annexation of the southeast side of U.S. 33 (Main Street) would have twice the negative impact on his business, since he had recently bought the Mahle building and property. “And that’s not just the 69 percent increase in taxes that businesses on that side would see,” Conrow said.

“I don’t understand why the Town would annex when they would not stand to gain as much as keeping the in-lieu-of-annexation agreements that are currently drafted,” Conrow continued. “That agreement is friendly to industries and the businesses would pay a percentage directly to the Town’s general fund.”

Conrow also said he thought if the town was planning to annex, they should be discussing the west side of U.S. 33, as well.

“That is the area that needs to be annexed. Those (residents’) septics are failing, but the council has said they will not proceed on that side. The state will step in at some point and make them connect,” Conrow said.

The three-member council voted unanimously in August to adopt a fiscal plan for the annexation of 144.5 acres which includes 14 properties, all zoned business or light industrial – from the MAHLE (formerly Dana Corp.) building on the east side of U.S. 33 (South Main Street) south to C.R. 375 North. It includes three industrial sites – C & A Tool, Bluffton Rubber Co. and MAHLE – as well as six commercial and one residential site and five agricultural outbuildings.

The town’s infrastructure, including sewer lines and some water lines, have been servicing parts of the southeast area since 1981, and all but four sites have utility services. The business owners – at that time – paid for the extension of the utility lines, and are billed monthly for utilities just as residents within the corporate boundaries of the town are billed.

The in-lieu-of-annexation agreement was drafted in the 1980’s specifically for Mahle (at that time, Dana Corp.) and Bluffton Rubber Company and included an annual payment to the town in lieu of annexing the property.

The problem with the agreement, Sade said, was that it wasn’t discussed publicly, signed by all three members of the Council or even enforced when she was first elected to the Council in the late 1990s and early 2000s.

“I didn’t even know about the agreement when I first came on board,” Sade said.”It was quietly signed by the town council president and clerk-treasurer (at that time) and not discussed with the other two council members.”

Although Mahle continued to make payments, BRC did not, Sade said.

“We were looking at annexing in phases so that the town can grow to the south,” Sade said. “It seemed logical to do it in phases and start with the southeast side and continue growing to the south. If we don’t annex, but have all the businesses sign an in-lieu-of-annexation agreement, wouldn’t it be a cumbersome way to go? Wouldn’t it put us in the legal business and the business of bill collecting?”

“You need to have a council that will enforce the agreements and not let them slide,” Conrow said. “This is the more business-friendly option.”

Bob Egolf, owner of Egolf’s IGA and also a member of the Smith Township Advisory Board, also voiced his opposition to the annexation. “What additional services would I receive that I do not already have?” Egolf asked. “I don’t want to have to raise grocery prices because of this big increase in taxes, but I and other business owners, would be forced to.”

Renee McKinley, owner of the Ramble Inn restaurant, agreed with Egolf. “We’re looking at a 69 percent tax rate increase for services we already have and pay for,” McKinley said. “What are we gaining by this?”

Hart, who is also a member of the Churubusco Police force, said that technically, the southside businesses are not in the town limits and therefore, are under the jurisdiction of the county police, not the Churubusco Police. “Although, we do try to work together and we do (security runs and other calls) on those businesses because they are so close,” Hart said.

Kessler, president of the town council, pointed out that although the proposed annexation would take the property owners from the current Smith Township taxing district rate of 1.2854 to a Churubusco taxing unit rate of 2.1747, the township would still receive the same share of tax monies in general fund, township assistance, and parks and recreation.

The township would lose the tax revenues in fire (0.0254 taxing unit rate)  and cummulative fire (0.0163 taxing unit rate), Kessler said, “but the town would be required to reimburse the township annually for any lost revenue due to the annexation.”

Kessler said he and the annexation consultant, Kristi Sturtz, will schedule private meetings with individual property owners to go over concerns and technical questions involving any potential annexation.

The council may proceed in several ways. They can bring the matter up for vote at the November 18th meeting, or let it die for lack of motion.

If the council makes a decision to proceed, that legal notice would have to be published by Nov. 23 and there would be a 90-day remonstrance period, according to Sturtz. After that, the finalization date would be February 28, 2010.

The council could also discuss other options, such as in-lieu-of-annexation agreements instead of annexation or a phase-in annexation plan for several areas that includes a designated fund for captured revenue.

This map shows the corporate boundaries of Churubusco and the area of the proposed southeast annexation.