Staff Reports
The Jefferson City Council approved hiring of Carson McKnight as a patrol officer, and a handful of building permits during Tuesday’s special meeting before launching into a workshop discussion on the City’s leave policies in the Employee Handbook.
McKnight will be joining the Jefferson Police Department at a rate of $20 per hour, which is in line with three other officers on payroll, according to JPD Chief Tino Perez. The hiring of McKnight puts the JPD back at a full staff of officers, which they’ve not had in over two years.
Permits were issued to Pat and Robin Moore to add decks to their home; to Jefferson Academy Foundation to build a climate-controlled storage building to their property next to the Jefferson Primary School; and to Bobby Carson and Susie May to renovate the former Blessings building on Polk Street.
Carson/May’s plans include adding a balcony to the front of the building. They also requested placing a roll-off dumpster in the alleyway behind the building Alderman Ward 1 Jim Finstrom asked if the dumpster would cause any additional issues similar to the ones already had due to a dumpster being placed there previously. None were known but it was also requested they see if the dumpster could be placed in the parking lot leased by Lyle Spellings near the property. Council approved the permit as submitted however.
Council discussed the waste disposal contract the City has with Republic Industries as a recent Texas Supreme Court case identified that “Percent of Revenue Licensing Fee’s” are not allowed in Texas. Currently businesses which have a dumpster are required to obtain it from Republic under the City’s contract. As a result they receive contracted rates and pay a 20% franchise fee which is paid to the City by Republic.
Jefferson Mayor Rob Baker said he’d put this on the agenda as a discussion item so Aldermen could begin reviewing the decision and be thinking about what options the City might propose. The City will receive about $36,000 in revenue from Republic through the fee.
Alderman Richard Turner had also requested Council begin discussion on uncontracted commercial trash carriers being allowed on city streets. The trucks in question are the smaller commercial trash haulers with small compactors on board, but are still heavier than many streets in town are able to support.
Turner was absent from Tuesday’s meeting, so the discussion was moved to the next regular meeting.
Retired HR professional JoAnn Stacey gave Council a presentation on things to consider in establishing a vacation/leave policy during the workshop following the meeting.
Stacey said she reviewed both the 2000 and 2016 versions of the Employee Handbook and drafted a comparison chart as well as a suggested vacation policy for Council to discuss. She said the 2016 version has more than is needed for an employee handbook, and appears to have been copy and pasted from various online sources.
During the hour-long discussion, Stacey gave suggestions for the basic items needed in a new handbook. Those suggestions included leave policies, introduction or probationary period policy, standards of conduct policies, time keeping and payroll policies, and employee acknowledgement of receipt of handbook among other things.
Council made no decisions as discussion was in a workshop but is continuing to review the handbook and ordinances over the next several meetings and Stacey will be meeting with the department heads to obtain more information on their working policies.
Council will meet again on July 19.