Staff Reports
City employees will have fewer paid holidays in the 2022 Calendar year, and the City set a $150 deposit requirement to have new service in a resident’s name after the their marathon 4.5 hour City Council Tuesday night meeting.
“I’m stating for the record that I feel bad about taking away days we’ve been paying before,” said Jefferson Mayor Rob Baker. “The City Employee Handbook needs to be updated but that’s a discussion for another night. I’ve split these up so we can discuss each holiday.”
The discussion started during December’s regular Council meeting where Aldermen spent approximately 20 minutes debating calling employee paid days off, other than vacation or sick leave, “holidays.”
Ward 3 Alderman Richard Turner asked Council then to table the approval of the days until the January meeting so they could discuss them in more depth.
According to the Handbook, City employees receive 13 paid day’s off, namely: New Year’s Day, MLK, Day President’s Day, the Friday of Mardi Gras, Good Friday, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Columbus Day, Veteran’s Day, the Thursday and Friday of Thanksgiving, and Christmas Eve and Christmas Day as holidays.
The City has traditionally given the Friday of the Burn Benefit Rally, a half day on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, and a half day on the day before Christmas Eve.
During the December meeting, the proposed schedule mirrored the County’s Holiday schedule, which had paid 18 days off.
Turner again led the discussion focusing on wanting to only do what was in the current handbook and that Council should update the Handbook instead of approving additional days each year.
In the end, Council approved adding Juneteenth, as it’s a new Federal Holiday, and the Friday before the Burn Benefit Rally in October. Additional days Marion County observes were denied, including: Texas Independence Day, and the days before the official Thanksgiving and Christmas Holidays.
Last year the City provided the Wednesday before Thanksgiving as a holiday to employees, but not so this year.
“This is a take away from employees,” said Baker. “They should at least be given the half day we’ve given in the past.”
In making his motion to deny either the extra half or full day, Turner said, “It may be a change from what has been done in the past, but it’s not a change from what the handbook says.”
“I’m OK with adding the day if we take away from others like President’s Day or Columbus Day,” said Ward 2 Alderman James Parsons, who seconded Turner’s motion.
The motion passed 4-2 with Ward 1 Aldermen Westbrook and Jim Finstrom voting against not allowing the extra day.
Westbrook then made a motion to provide a half day off on the day before Thanksgiving.
“We can do it either way,” said Turner. “We’ll just defeat it. My motion was to deny a half or a full day.”
“We need to give families a break on the Wednesday [before Thanksgiving],” said Westbrook. “Some go out of town; some cook; they need a little help there.”
Finstrom seconded Westbrook’s motion, but it failed 2-4.
Turner then motioned they should “follow the same logic and deny any additional days off other than vacation [for Christmas]. The handbook is just Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.”
Parsons again seconded the motion. It again passed, to deny the extra day off, 5-0-1 with Finstrom abstaining.
Council also took up a previous meeting discussion about the City’s policy on reinstating water service after a disconnect for non-payment and the raising of the deposit required for said service.
According to City Administrator Eric Kuykendall, the City is unable to deny reinstating service to a household for non-payment if another member of that household comes in and requests service after the disconnect.
“This is not meant to prevent another member of the household to turn water service back on,” said Baker.
“[The laws] are unfair to cities,” said Kuykendall. “It’s not our fault, it’s just the way it is. If we make the deposit high enough, we’ll lose less.”
Kuykendall said every month there are 20-25 regular offenders of non-payment, out of which the City cuts off “15 people or less per month” due to non-payment.
Finstrom motioned to set the deposit requirement at $150 for new service or reconnect service, in another persons name, after a non-payment disconnect. The $150 is a two-month average water bill.
The motion passed 5-1 with Westbrook voting against the increase.
Jefferson’s Chief of Police Tino Perez still doesn’t have a raise, but Council did agree to buy back some of his vacation time, despite Perez reaching the accrued time cap at the end of 2019.
FInstrom initially moved to increase the Chief’s salary commensurate with the raise granted to other officers back in December. The raise would have been approximately 25%, or a little over $10,000 per year. The motion, however, died for lack of a second.
“What’s his current salary,” asked Turner.
“It’s approximately $51,000,” said Kuykendall. “I don’t have the exact figure in front of me.”
“If it’s on the agenda and we don’t know what his current salary is, shame on you,” said Turner.
In December, Council approved eliminating a seventh officer position and using those funds to increase the salary of all other officer positions. The raise changed officers salaries from $16.04 per hour to $20 per hour, and the investigator and Sergeant salaries from $17.97 per hour to $22 per hour.
“If we’re going to be commensurate with other communities, it’s around $80,000 per year,” said Finstrom, “so we’re not even coming close [with a 25% raise for the Chief].”
Kuykendall said he’d done some research at the Texas Municipal League website and comparing similar sized cities chief of police salaries, which is where the $80k figure came from.
“I’m not saying I’m against giving Tino a raise,” said Turner. “But, we should look at it based upon what the true numbers are, and not from a TML website. You know how much I trust TML.”
“Across the board, our police department has been underpaid,” said Baker. “So even if we did 25%, we’d still be way under. We owe it to the chief to give him a raise, like we did to his staff. It’s a good step to get us part way there.”
Parson’s motioned to table the raise so Kuykendall could get information together on comparable Police Chief salaries in the area and our size and then to come back to Council with a proposal, instead of “just pulling numbers out of the air.” Turner seconded the motion.
“I’d make amotion that if we get the numbers, we match that,” said FInstrom.
Perez requested the City purchase back some of his unused vacation time as he can no longer accrue any more due to staff shortages.
“We have an unusal situation where he’s maxed out on accrued vacation,” said Kuykendall, “because he’s been short handed, he can’t take a vacation, even if he’d like to. He also accrues comp time at different times too. If we can purchase back some of his vacation time it would allow him to start accruing again.”
Parsons said he’s “happy to buy back and restore what he would have gotten, or purchase that too, as we shouldn’t have the situation.”
Parsons then motioned to buy back a total of six weeks of vacation time and Ward 3 Alderman Ted Dickson seconded.
“The concern I have is, once you buy back one individual’s vacation, for whatever reason, you’ve set a precedence to do it from now on,” said Turner.
“Only if circumstances are the same,” said Baker. “Due to staffing he can’t take vacation.”
The City allows employees to carry over up to 240 hours of vacation time. Perez maxed out the accrual time at the end of 2019.
“This really needs to be a change in policy,” said Turner. “Were we short staffed back to 2019? When couldn’t he take a vacation in the early part of 2020? What was the reason he didn’t?”
Perez said he was initially made aware that vacation never caps out when he took the job as Chief, but “learned about three months ago this isn’t the case.”
“If we buy back two weeks from 2020, two weeks from 2021,and two weeks from 2019, it takes him down to 160 hours accrued,” said Baker. “This buys him a years worth of time to get staffing that might not put him back in this situation for a year.”
“When I get fully staffed I plan on taking a vacation,” said Perez.
“I’m not against the chief at all,” said Turner, “but we’re setting a very bad precedence. Why not increase the amount people can accrue instead? I don’t believe he was in that situation for two years.”
The motion was ultimately approved 5-1, with Turner voting against.
Currently there are only three full time members of JPD, a sergeant, a patrol officer, and the Chief. They are providing 24/7 coverage for the City while Perez tries to hire additional officers.
Council approved a new ordinance allowing certain off-road type vehicles on city streets, under certain conditions and as long as they meet specific requirements.
In the new ordinance, ATV’s, side-by-side or multi-purpose off-highway utility vehicles, 3-wheelers, 4-wheelers or any other similar vehicle, can be driven on city streets as long as one of the following criteria is met:
• a farm vehicle for legitimate farming purposes;
• transporting goods, materials and services for established businesses and approved vendors registered with JPD;
• participation in parades, events or other promotions, with prior Council approval;
• law enforcement and first responders; or
• municipal employees in the course of their duties.
Further, all vehicles driven on city streets, including off-road vehicles, must:
• carry evidence of $100,000 bodily injury and property damage liablity insurance which does not specifically exclude coverage for use on city streets and/or does not exclude coverage while vehicle is being used in operation of a business;
• be street legal, registered with a current license tag;
• be operated by a driver with a valid driver’s license;
• comply with State of Texas traffic codes.
Violation of the ordinance carries the possibility of up to a $500 fine through the Jefferson Municipal Court.
Parsons and Ward 2 Alderman Robin Moore made the motion to approve the new ordinance, however, the vote ended with a rare 3-3 tie. Baker broke the tie by voting to approve the ordinance.
The City will review redistricting options and the overall process during a special meeting at 1 p.m. today (Friday, January 21) at the Transportation Building.
“The City is in a unique scenario due to a court case in the 80s,” said Baker. “We were held under that court order and each time the census comes forward, we look at it.
Baker said the City is meeting in a public forum format to have the redistricting attorney walk the City through the process and share some potential changes. Council will then be able to go through the next steps of adopting the process; vote on a proposed redistricting plan; and then hold a public hearing and final vote on the new Ward boundaries.
Council also approved the Oakwood Cemetery Associations request to pay for cameras to be installed at the Cemetery and the $240 monthly maintenance fees for the cameras. The cameras would also cover Mt Sinai cemetery. Both cemeteries have recently been vandalized and this measure is to help deter and provide evidence during acts of vandalism.
The cameras are solar powered and activated so they only have to be installed as no additional wiring is required.
In other business, Council:
• heard an update from Kuykendall about the drainage project being basically finished in the next week, weather permitting;
• heard updates from Perez on JPD in 2021
• received quarterly updates from JEDCO, Tourism, NETWMD, and Friends of Jefferson Animals
• approved consent agenda items including the Order of Election for May 7; the annual agreement with the Jefferson Carnegie Library; Special Event Applications from Jefferson Jeep Show on March 12; Mardi Gras Upriver on February 24-27; Historic Jefferson Pilgrimage on April 28-May 1; and Pioneer Days on September 3-5
• approved JEDCO funding agreement of up to $10,000 for Bob Thomas’ proposed “Windows to History” project
• tabled a building permits for Marjorie Weatherall and denied a permit for Rod Rodriguez
• approved paying for repairs to Tremane Nelson’s car after it was damaged by a manhole cover on Broadway for $265
• approved an agreement with SPI for the Emergency Preparedness Plan required by TCEQ for $14,700
• approved allowing Amco Investments to prepare a proposal on the City refinancing the 2006 USDA wastewater bonds to lower the interest rate
• New stop signs at the Clarksville and Soda Streets intersections making it a 4-way stop
• tabled implementing a policy for houses/businesses with multiple connections on one meter – see online story for more details
• and added a standing monthly meeting on the 1st Tuesday of each month to discuss and possibly modify existing City Ordinances.