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Show Panguitch City Council Dicusses Overtime Policy; Garkane Energy PANGUITCH - Panguitch Mayor Janet Oldham, along with City Manager Allen Henrie, Deputy Recorder Donna Osborn, and council members Randy Hatch, Denny Orton, J. Arthur Cooper, Leland Pollock and John Orton were present at the meeting on Tuesday evening, Oct. 12 of the Panguitch City Council. Also present was Attorney Wallace A. Lee. Workshops were set for 5 p.m. on overtime policy and GarkaneDeseret Power discussions. discus-sions. Workshop - Overtime Policy Allen Henrie recommended that the overtime policy provide for overtime at the following rate: maintenance department at time and a half for overtime; office staff at time and a half for overtime and city manager exempt from overtime. Overtime is to be compensation compensa-tion time and not pay. The current cur-rent policy allows for an employee to carry no more than 80 hours of comp time, 240 hours of vacation time, and 480 hours of sick leave. Workshop GarkaneDeseret GarkaneDeseret Power representatives rep-resentatives present were Kimball Rasmussen, Attorney Dave Crabtree, Mike Avant, and Carl Albrecht. Panguitch City was informed that by not signing sign-ing the franchise with Utah Power, we have kept our options open. Garkane is interested in serving Panguitch, but Utah Power owns the system and they are unwilling sellers. Therefore, legal maneuvering may become necessary. The power plant owned by Garkane Power was rated the most reliable in 2001-2002. They own and operate their own coal mine and railroad as well as transmission lines to Mona. Garkane has not borrowed any money for the past five years, and regularly pays rebates to their customers. Garkane Power is about 10 percent cheaper than Utah Power. The only physical obstacle for Garkane Power to overcome is the construction and rebuilding rebuild-ing of transmission lines from Tropic to Hatch Mountain and from Hatch Mountain to Spry. This obstacle may take time to work through because of environmental envi-ronmental issues. Dave Crabtree advised that one to approach the acquisition of Panguitch City is to create a municipal hold for power for Panguitch City. After the City creates a municipal hold, we could sell to Garkane. The first step in this procedure would be to get an appraisal of the Utah Power system, which serves Panguitch City. Panguitch City must also determine the level of support of the citizens by holding hold-ing an election. This could be handled with a non-binding question on the ballot at the next general city election. This would be followed later by a vote of the citizens for a bond for municipal power and at the same time a vote to sell the system sys-tem to Garkane Power. The bottom line is what level of commitment does the City have to pursue the course to municipalize the City power and then sell to Garkane, a process which quite possibly will take many years? The advantages of pursuing a course, which would eventually result in Garkane providing power for Panguitch City, are more local jobs, local ownership and control of the power system, and the rates for power would be the same or less than those of Utah Power. Garkane will provide a list of potential appraisers for the Utah Power system which serves Pangutich City, and Carl Albrecht will go to his board to see what financial support for the appraisal they can offer. This will be discussed at city council on Nov. 9. Opening Ceremony The opening ceremony was conducted by Art Cooper. A motion was made and passed all in favor to adopt the Approval of the Minutes Mayor Janet Oldham request (See MINUTES on page 3A) Minutes From Front Page ed that the approval of the minutes min-utes be tabled until next city council meeting. Overtime A motion was made and passed all in favor that the overtime over-time policy will state that the city manager will be exempt from ' overtime and that the maintenance crew and the office staff will earn compensation time for overtime at the rate of time and a half. All overtime is to be held to a minimum. Ed Mock Ed Mock with Royal Express Transmission put in a sidewalk, curb and gutter at his place of business at 389 N. Main. He has had problems with water washing wash-ing under the concrete and undermining his concrete work. Therefore, when the city chipsealed the streets, Ed Mock prepared the area and had the city right-of-way chip sealed. Ed Mock paid workers who helped with the preparation, but he would like the city to reimburse reim-burse him for the chip sealing of the city right-of-way. The cost for the chip sealing was $895.40. Denny Orton pointed out that this could create a precedence issue. If the city pays for Ed Mock to chip seal the city right-of-way, other citizens citi-zens may want to do the same thing. Allen Henrie suggested that the city council could set a policy that if a business in a commercial zone was willing to put in sidewalk, curb and gutter, then the city would chip seal the right-of-way. This will be discussed dis-cussed at the next city council meeting. A motion was made and passed all in favor to approve the request by Ed Mock for reimbursement for $895.40 for the cost of chip sealing the right-of-way at his business, and that the consideration of a new policy be put on the agenda for the next city meeting. Main Street Manager Raise Jess Johnson was hired with a (See MINUTES on page 4A) Minutes From Front Page salary of $10,000, which can advance to $12,000. She will have a performance evaluation six months from her hire date. At this time, she has been given the responsibility of handling the Balloon Festival. The Main Street Committee feels that with this added responsibility, the wage for Jess Johnson should be increased immediately to $12,000. It was proposed that Johnson be given a bonus of $666 over the next three and a half months rather than the $2,000 raise. One concern about this raise was a consideration of fairness to other city employees. Another concern was that a bonus is usually given at the completion of a job, rather than at the beginning of a job. A motion was made that the council award $666 bonus to Johnson to be paid over the next three and a half months. The motion did not carry. Art Cooper and Leland Pollock voted in favor of the motion, Randy Hatch, Denny Orton and John Orton voted against the motion. Attorney Wally Lee suggested suggest-ed that the Main Street organization organiza-tion become a separate entity with the city giving a donation. The Main Street organization is a non-profit organization managed man-aged by a city employee. If the Main Street organization were-separate were-separate from the city, the Main Street Board could set the wages and bonuses. The Main Street Manager could be a 1099 contractor, con-tractor, if she so desired. Leland Pollock made a motion which passed all in favor that, pending approval of the Main Street Board, the city council turn over the employment employ-ment of Johnson as Main Street Manager, either as an employee or a private contractor, the Main Street Board. Art Cooper complimented Jess Johnson on her enthusiasm and professionalism at recent meetings in Richfield. Jess Johnson was also complimented on the successful community meeting held on Oct. 6. Forty-five Forty-five people attended this meeting meet-ing with very positive comments. com-ments. Jess Johnson invited the city council to a business luncheon lunch-eon on Nov. 3. At this meeting an architect will discuss facade renovation for main street businesses. |