Wednesday, July 14, 2010
 
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City briefs: City debates holding costs down

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[July 14, 2010]  Tuesday night Mayor Keith Snyder called the meeting of the committee of the whole of the Lincoln City Council to order with nine aldermen present. Alderman Tom O'Donohue was absent for the evening.

As the evening progressed, discussions about a new ordinance regarding sewer backflow stop valves as well as a discussion on controlling city spending led to some debate and at times became slightly heated as aldermen struggled to determine how they can best serve the city of Lincoln.

New purchasing policy proposed

Alderman Buzz Busby, who co-chairs the finance committee with Alderwoman Melody Anderson, passed out a document that outlined a new policy he wants put into place immediately to help control spending by city department heads.

He said that time and time again department heads have been told to stop spending money, and they don't seem to be heeding the warning, so something has to be done.

"We've asked for six months that you not spend any money that isn't absolutely necessary, and we can't get anybody to listen. You're all spending money," he said.

Busby had noted that currently the general fund has a total shortfall of $252,000. He said that the only thing that was keeping cash in the bank was the funds that are designated for specific projects such as road repair. He noted that once those projects are completed and the money paid out, there would be a serious problem.

Busby also commented that the fire department budget is already exceeding the amounts it should be by this time in the budget year in accrued overtime. He referred to their budget as a disaster, saying that they were at 47 percent of their budget in accumulated overtime.

His proposal is that any single purchase exceeding $100 shall be approved by two members of the finance committee and that the names of those members should appear on the purchase order of the product.

Alderwoman Marty Neitzel questioned whether this policy included overtime as it had been referred to by Busby.

Busby said that he thought the chair of the fire committee, who is Alderwoman Kathy Horn, should discuss the overtime issues with the fire chief.

Alderwoman Joni Tibbs spoke up, saying that Assistant Chief Steve Dahm was present and perhaps he could shed some light on the situation. Before he spoke, though, she went on to say that she listens to the scanner and knows there are times when multiple things are going on that the fire department has to respond to. She noted emergency calls, saying that these are things that cannot be controlled, yet they are the services that are expected by the taxpayers of the city.

Busby noted that perhaps one answer would be to stop the emergency calls. He was referring to the fact that the city fire department responds to calls involving the Logan County Paramedics, and he said, "Just let the EMTs do it."

Dahm did speak out, saying that when he began with the fire department 23 years ago, they ran on seven-man shifts. He noted that the city had let people go and there had also been resignations or retirements from the department without any new hires replacing them.

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He went on to explain that today shifts are six men, but to balance and allow for time off, there are generally only four in the station at a time. He noted that if even one calls in sick, then there are only three firefighters available for a call.

He implied that three firefighters were not enough to fight a fire and that the only option was to call in more people, which equated to overtime.

He concluded by saying that when placing blame for the overtime, blame should go to the fire department, but also to the city.

Anderson said that she had discussed the accrued overtime with fire Chief Kent Hulett about a week ago and that he was comfortable that he wasn't going to exceed the annual budget.

She also noted that accrued overtime and overtime are two different things and located in two different places in the budget. She said the actual overtime that is paid out is at 16 percent of the budget, and that is in line with where it should be for the year.

She also noted that accrued overtime is time that is banked for the firefighter and may or may not be used this year. Busby countered that it is still a debt to the city and that the firefighters can use this banked time any time they wish. He noted that if they all decided they wanted it this year, it would be a huge problem.

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Neitzel drew on the comment about the $252,000 shortfall and asked if the deficit would be corrected once the city does the new general obligation bond. Busby said that yes, a portion of the money that will come from the bond will cover the deficit.

Moving on, Busby said he had noted that the city clerk's staff has a new printer in their office. He wondered whether or not that had been a necessary purchase.

City Clerk Denise Martinek said there had been no purchase involved. The printer used by City Hall is leased under an office equipment contract. She said the contract includes a maintenance and service agreement. When the company brought in the new machine, it ended up actually saving the city money in those agreements.

The proposed change in policy will be on the Monday night voting agenda.

[By NILA SMITH]

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