The Sylvester City Council held their workshop for the month of September last Tuesday night after the meeting was rescheduled due to Monday’s Labor Day holiday. While the council had many issues to discuss before their regular meeting next Monday. However, perhaps the most interesting topic of conversation was mentioned only a few minutes before the meeting was adjourned.
Considering the debate over ISO ratings and the issues of providing reliable fire service to county citizens, Councilman Larry Johnson brought up the prospect of joining the city and county’s fire services. According to the councilman,
“I talked with the county commissioners today. They’re interested in sitting back down to the table and talking about fire service. It would probably be better if we wait until we get a fire chief.”
City Attorney Tommy Coleman stated that the city had discussed creating a special service district for Warwick back in 1999. According to the 15-year-old document, a special tax will be created by the county, Poulan, and Sumner to pay for maintenance to the engines. Coleman interpreted the document to mean that the people who were receiving the service would be the ones to pay the special tax. The mayor also stated that a commissioner had contacted him to meet with the aforementioned commissioner and the chairman. He agreed to meet with the county representatives to discuss the matter.
Concerning the original agenda at hand, the evening began with a concerned citizen addressing the council about the rising cost of electricity. According to the woman, everyone in her ward was complaining about the high energy bills. After hearing the resident’s concerns, Mayor Bill Yearta responded,
“Everyone is in the same boat. It’s just been so hot. It’s just weather related…” The mayor also assured the woman, “We have not really had a rate increase at all. As a matter of fact, the city is making no more on electricity than it made 20 years ago.”
After discussing the rising cost of energy, the council members heard from Mrs. Gina Connell of the health department concerning an upcoming drive through flu clinic to be held at the Ag Pavilion near Isabella. This will be the fifth year that the health department has hosted the event. As Connell explains,
“The annual drive through flu clinic is more than just for flu. It is actually preparing our community for the event of a disaster. If we have to give out any medicines in our city, this is exactly how we’re going to do it. They won’t ever get out of their cars. They will drive through and pick up medicines in their cars just like they get their flu shot in their car.”
The health department director also mentioned that the county used this same model recently during a flooding event to distribute sand bags. The well-organized procedure allowed all in need to quickly receive their ration of sand bags without anyone having to get out of their cars in the storm.
Connell says the department now has 23 community partners in Worth County, and Sylvester’s drive through flu clinic is the only such event in the state that requires no outside assistance from other communities. This self-sufficiency is also necessary in the event of an emergency because the director knows that local personnel would not have time to wait for GEMA or another outside organization to arrive and assist.
The clinic will be held on Tuesday, October 7 from 8:30am until 1:00pm. The Ag Pavilion is located along Highway 313 near the county’s public works facility. Everyone is encouraged to come out and get your flu vaccination while offering our local responders the opportunity to train for disaster.
Next, the council heard from Human Resources Manager Kristy Adams concerning workers comp. The HR manager suggested replacing Orthopedic Associates with Phoebe Orthopedic Group. She also discussed revisions to the return to work policy for city employees. The proposed changes aim to get injured employees back to work more quickly.
Adams also discussed background checks for city employees. The HR manager stated she had trouble navigating the website of the current background check provider for the city, Labor Checks. She suggested replacing the current provider with a similar service utilized by several municipalities including the City of Albany. The new service would also be significantly cheaper than the current provider. These items were placed on the agenda to be further discussed at the regular meeting later in the month.
Then, City Manager Debbie Bridges mentioned upgrading the payment system for court and police fines to accommodate credit and debit card payments. The city manager suggested that the updated system would streamline the whole process and make fee collection much easier.
The council also discussed the police vehicle take-home policy. After reviewing a report outline fuel costs associated with taking the vehicles home, Bridges said the officers are driving a total of 472 miles per day. The total cost associated with driving these vehicles home is around $31,000 per year. While they were attempting to determine exactly how much each officer spent on gas and maintenance for the vehicles and considering removing the take home vehicle policy, Mrs. Bridges stated there are also advantages to keeping the policy in place.
For example, there was no increase to the insurance premium when the city implemented the take home policy, and there won’t be a change if they take it away. Shop maintenance costs have also improved since the officers began keeping their own vehicle because the employees take more pride and care in maintaining their cars. Ultimately, the city manager suggested keeping the current policy in place, or compensating the officers with mileage rather than increasing their salaries.
The council seemed to agree that giving the officers a vehicle to take home also improved morale, and it served other valuable purposes including crime prevention when a police car is seen parked in the neighborhood. However, Councilman Melvin Powell stated that he was concerned with the officers speeding when they left the city limits and he has seen proof of their speeding. He believes this will create a liability issue concerning the cars. Powell also cited two incidents in which officers wrecked their cars outside of the city limits.
Once all of the agenda items had been discussed, City Manager Debbie Bridges mentioned the City’s proposed “splash park” project for local kids. Apparently drainage and sewer capacity is an issue with the water park. The location of the park has still not been decided, but the council discussed building the splash park near the train depot on Front Street.
Before the meeting was adjourned, Bridges mentioned that she would announce Sylvester’s new fire chief this week. The city will hold their next regularly scheduled meeting on Monday, September 15 at 7:00pm.