By DAVE SCHULTZ
City offices and most departments are closed for seven holidays each year — New Year’s Day, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving Day and the day after Thanksgiving, Christmas Day and the day after Christmas.
Then there’s Wells County, that has a total of 15 employee holidays, including election days, Veterans Day, the day after Christmas, and others. State employees also have paid time off on 15 holidays. There are 12 federal holidays as well.
Mayor John Whicker brought the matter up for discussion, and the members of the Bluffton Common Council — Josh Hunt, Chandler Gerber, Rick Elwell, Scott Mentzer, and Janella Stronczek — agreed that something needed to be done in terms of equity for city workers.
Whicker wants to bring the city in line with county, state, and federal celebrations. “That is the best thing for our employees,” Whicker said. “We need to add some holidays.”
It’s a matter of making the city an appealing place to work. “We can look at this as an opportunity for incentivizing city workers,” Elwell said. Mentzer added to the comment, saying that in his opinion, “we need to be competitive. We want to make sure we’re competitive at all levels.”
“I feel we have a concern here that comes up a lot,” Hunt said. “We’re really strong on vacation, but we’re really weak in this category.”
Whicker asked for two council members to take the lead in making holiday recommendations, and Elwell and Mentzer said they’d do it.
“Scott and Rick — the ball is in your court,” Whicker said.
In other council business Tuesday night:
• City Attorney Tony Crowell went through a revision of the city’s interlocal agreement with the county on dispatch operations. The matter was tabled until members could get more clarity on the matter.
• The council approved a measure that will allow advance payment to contractors.
• Gerber suggested that council members prepare short reports for the public meetings they participate in on behalf of the city — for instance, Gerber represents the city on the Area Plan commission. Every member would be given 90 seconds or two minutes to report to the fellow council members about those meetings.
• Whicker said that he had received word that 20/20 Custom Molded Plastics would lay off 93 people for about four weeks. Elwell said that he understood that the workers would be brought back.
• Gerber said an effort is under way to replace the “Welcome to Bluffton” signs at the city limits plus revising the city’s website, all with a goal of rebranding the city’s image.
Gerber said Wells County Economic Development, Wells County Tourism, and the Chamber of Commerce will be involved in the effort.
daves@news-banner.com
