By GLEN WERLING
’Twas the day before the day before Christmas and all through Ossian not a creature was stirring but the town council members had some unfinished business, so they were meeting.
Neither wind nor cold could stay those five brave souls from their appointed duty, so they adopted one ordinance and a second was — well it never made it off the table.
Because the council would not be able to fulfill the requirements for a finance-related ordinance adoption because of the limited time available before the new year, town council president Josh Barkley asked the council members to waive the rules and to adopt the two ordinances that were before the council on one reading only —a perfectly legal step that is permitted by state statute — if the council members agree unanimously to do so.
And when waiving the rules is most often done is in situations such as a salary ordinance where the particulars have already been worked out by the council and the actual adoption of the ordinance is a legally-required formality.
The 2023 salary ordinance was, indeed, the first ordinance that the council adopted with no fuss, approving an 8 percent increase in pay for town employees on a 5-0 vote. Council members Barkley, Brad Pursley, Jeff Kemper, Jason House, and Dennis Ealing had agreed unanimously to waive the rules and adopt the ordinance on first reading.
Once again, as in past years, the council exempted itself from the raise and the member pay will remain at $1,136.87 quarterly — the rate that it has been for a number of years.
Barkley again reiterated his belief that the council members are there to serve the town and not profit from it.
The council president’s pay stays at $1,797.87 quarterly and the vice president’s pay is $1,307.07 quarterly.
The clerk-treasurer’s pay will be $1,968.09 bi-weekly.
The police sergeant will be paid $27.525 an hour, the patrol officer’s position will be paid $30.26 an hour and the part-time officer’s pay is $35 an hour. The council approved hiking the part-time pay to $35 an hour at a previous meeting.
The police commissioners will continue with the annual stipend of $12 a year.
The utility clerk’s wage varies from $18.36 to $21.60 an hour depending on starting date, the certified wastewater supervisor will be paid $29.16 an hour, the certified water supervisor will be paid in a range from $24 to $29.16 an hour.
General maintenance employees will be paid from $18.36 to $25.92 an hour depending on employment start date, parks and facilities employees will be paid $19.98 an hour, seasonal employees will be paid $12.92 an hour, new-hire seasonal employees will be paid $11.60 an hour and the part-time firefighter’s position stays at the recently adopted $15 an hour.
Certain utility employees required to wear specialized footwear will also be paid a boot allowance of $75 per year.
While the first ordinance passed with no objections, the second, Ordinance 22-12-2, hit a brick wall when Ealing said he would not agree to waiving the rules and taking the final vote on that ordinance Friday afternoon.
That ordinance would have amended the employee handbook to change the rules on how accrued vacation time is compensated for an employee who is either terminated, is retiring, or who resigns.
Under the current handbook policy, if an employee works one full day into the new year, they are eligible for all of the vacation that they would have received that year, even though they will not be working.
Ossian Police Sgt. Stephanie Tucker plans to resign at 11:59 a.m. Jan. 1 because she was elected to the town council and cannot serve any longer as a town employee. Her intention is to work a shift she normally does not work — third shift — prior to her resignation becoming official.
She intends to be paid for the whole four weeks of vacation and will remain on the town’s health insurance plan through Jan. 31, 2023.
The entire package, Barkley observed, will be more than $5,000. He added that the town will pay Tucker, but will receive no benefit from that $5,000 because Tucker will not be working the remaining days of January beyond Jan. 1 nor will she be serving the town as a police officer after 11:59 a.m. New Years Day.
Under the current handbook what Tucker is doing is permitted.
When Barkley got wind of Tucker’s plans, he had the town attorney craft a change to the compensation package that would prorate vacation time so Tucker’s intention to work Jan. 1 would have merited her only one day of vacation pay, not four weeks. She still would have qualified for the month of insurance.
Ealing said he understood what the intention of changing the handbook was, but he added that any changes to the handbook will affect all of the town’s employees, not just Tucker.
Using Town Manager Luann Martin as an example, Ealing pointed out that Martin plans to retire in March of 2023. If the handbook rules change, she will lose that vacation pay if she does not use the vacation. Therefore, there is more incentive for her to use her four weeks of vacation in her final three months of employment by the town, instead of working until her stated day of retirement, since she will not be compensated for the lost days of vacation if she does not use them.
Ealing stressed that changing the handbook would effectively cut Martin back from a three-month employee to a two-month employee, limiting the amount of time the council will have in finding her replacement and the time period for getting that new employee brought up to speed by Martin.
“After all, why wouldn’t she use her vacation? If she doesn’t use it, she’s going to lose it,” Ealing said.
Barkley countered that was not whatMartin told him her intentions were, but Ealing said that was what she told him.
Tucker, who was present at the meeting Friday, observed that Martin wasn’t present to say one way or the other what her intentions were. Barkley replied that he realized that.
“If an employee works they deserve their vacation, especially someone who has worked 20 years,” Ealing said, referring to Tucker’s years of service to the town. “If it costs $5,000 then we would have paid (Tucker) $5,000 a year ago,” he added.
“I think that we just move on with no vengeance,” Ealing said, apparently referencing the recent hard-fought campaign between Barkley and Tucker. The person who lost out in that fight, however, was neither Barkley nor Tucker but Kemper, who lost his at-large seat to Tucker in a three-way race for the two open seats.
Barkley said that this move to change the employee handbook had nothing to do with “vengeance.”
“This has to do with doing what’s right for the taxpayer,” Barkley said.
Pursley observed that more and more in the world of private business, vacation is changing to be prorated.
Kemper observed that had Tucker earned the four weeks in 2022 and had not used them then she should be paid for the unused vacation, but he questioned paying Tucker for four whole weeks of vacation for 2023 when she will only work one day to earn it.
Tucker, at that point, stated that she searched online for Indiana law regarding waiving the rules for ordinance adoption and stated that state law will not permit the waiving of the rules without unanimity.
Therefore, the ordinance revising the handbook never came to a vote.
“So ultimately, working one day into the new year makes the town have to pay for four weeks of vacation and a whole month of health insurance. I believe this is something we should possibly address in the future,” Barkley said.
“I believe we are doing our taxpayers a disservice,” Pursley added.
The council members, following adjournment of the meeting, thanked Kemper for his six years of service to the town.
Kemper returned the thanks to the council members. “I’ve learned a lot. A lot,” he said, adding that anyone who is critical of how town government works should serve and their “eyes would be opened to how much hard work it is” as he said his were when he served the town.
Kemper has been a council member for the past six years, originally serving as a replacement appointment for Bill Miller. He was then elected for the first time to the office in 2018.
glenw@news-banner.com
