WEST POINT — West Point city employees waiting to see if their benefits will be cut have to wait a little longer.
Discussions on cost-cutting measures yielded no results during Tuesday”s Board of Selectmen meeting. Despite pleas from Mayor Scott Ross to take decisive action, the board voted to table the discussion until a hard copy of available cuts and corresponding savings could be provided to all board members. The board will meet again Friday.
Christmas bonuses are at stake; employees also could face additional payroll deductions toward health and dental insurance.
Ross recommended suspending Christmas bonuses; the board must take action by Dec. 12 or the city will be obligated to pay the estimated $43,000 in bonuses.
City employees get an additional one-twelfth of their salary for every month they do not miss a day; the accrued amount is added to the employees” Dec. 15 paycheck as a Christmas bonus.
Ward 4 Selectman Keith McBrayer moved to suspend the bonuses for the year but the motion did not receive a second.
“Unless you can come up with a new source of revenue, we”re essentially talking about laying two people off. I”m trying not to fire people,” Ross lectured after the motion died. “Once the 12th comes, it”s paid. That $43,000 is gone.”
Still, the board chose to withhold its decision until later in the week.
Cutting costs
The board also will consider cuts to insurance benefits for city employees Friday.
Ross presented the board with several options, including halting free dental insurance for an estimated $30,000 in annual savings. Employees would be given the option to retain dental coverage for $12 a month.
Ward 2 Selectman Homer Cannon suggested city department heads present their own suggestions for cutting costs when the board holds its special meeting. Fire Department Chief Johnny Littlefield suggested trimming the city”s 10 paid holidays. Parks and Recreation Director James Crowley proposed he could cut the number of referees at sporting events in half if the board approved a new code of conduct for coaches.
Police Chief Bobby Lane said he was looking for ways to trim overtime, although it”s difficult during the holidays when crime spikes.
The WPPD lost two employees permanently and a third was cut to part time when the board voted to eliminate dispatcher jobs at the police department in favor of allowing the newly opened county-run E-911 center to handle all dispatches. The jobs were originally scheduled to be eliminated in October, but the E-911 center was late in opening.
Lane said one dispatcher would become a full-time receptionist and another would work part time when the full-time receptionist was out.
Ross explained the city was shifting several employees to different departments to remove their salaries from the city”s general fund, which is experiencing the greatest shortfall.
After the board voted to raise the sanitation fee, from $9 to $11, board members will take cuts as well, Ward 1 Selectman Rod Bobo later added. He didn”t specify if those cuts would come in the form of salaries or benefits.
“We wouldn”t consider raising any fees without making cuts from within,” he said.
Claims docket
During its special meeting, the board also will review the claims docket.
The full claims docket was not approved Tuesday after Ward 5 Selectman Jasper Pittman noted the Water and Light Department claims report was absent from the docket. Pittman asked for an itemized claims report for Water and Light.
Putting off the claims docket would mean delaying payment to electric providers TVA and 4-County Electric.
“Those are pretty necessary approvals. Keep that in mind,” Ross told the board.
Pittman criticized acting electric department head Shasta Plunkett for being uncooperative Tuesday when Pittman and Ward 2 Selectman Charles Collins visited the Water and Light Department seeking a personnel document.
“Me and Mr. Collins went to the electric department to retrieve some information. Mr. Plunkett told (employees) not to give us nothing until Randy (Jones, city administrator) came down,” said Pittman.
“I told them it wasn”t my position to give out personnel stuff,” Plunkett countered.
Ross attempted to mediate, saying Plunkett wasn”t withholding information, which Pittman and Collins eventually received, and likely was unsure of protocol. But Cannon, Collins and Bobo pushed the issue, insisting Plunkett makes policy decisions and could have provided the information without Jones” approval.
Who”s the boss
“I am concerned you don”t know who”s in charge,” Collins told Plunkett.
“You change policy,” said Bobo, referring to the Nov. 10 board meeting when Mike Garnett, a West Point Realtor, appeared before the board to voice concerns about Plunkett changing the policy on deposits for temporary service activation.
The revised policy requires additional deposits for Realtors who request temporary service activation on properties for maintenance or business purposes.
“When Mr. Garnett came to you, did you direct him to Mr. Jones? You made the decision,” Cannon said to Plunkett.
Plunkett took over the electric department after George Hinnant retired in June. Collins said the document in question concerned pay increases for Water and Light employees.
Despite the issue being a personnel matter, Pittman, who could not be reached by phone this morning for further comment, would like to discuss the information he received in open meeting. Governing boards can go into executive session to discuss personnel.
“I really don”t want to discuss it in executive session. We”re in executive session too much. The taxpayers deserve information,” Pittman said.
He later added, “There are some things I want to talk about as far as salaries.”
Pittman then asked Jan Wray, an office manager at Water and Light who was indefinitely suspended by the board in November, if she wished to discuss her case in open meeting.
“Let”s just lay it all out on the table,” said Pittman.
Wray was suspended after her husband, Bill Wray, was reported as driving a city vehicle as the couple traveled to a software workshop on city business.
Wray has sent a letter to the board requesting to speak to the board; under the advice of Board Attorney Orlando Richmond, the matters were discussed in executive session.
Executive session
After a two-hour session at which Jan Wray was called before the board twice, Pittman emerged angry, claiming Ross wouldn”t allow him to make a motion to demote Plunkett to line crew.
Ross said Pittman was not following proper procedure.
Wray left the meeting before the board emerged and declined comment. Plunkett did not appear before the board in executive session.
The board took no action in executive session.
In other business the board:
- Heard from Daily Times Leader Managing Editor Jeannetta Edwards, who requested the board use whatever political influence it could to convince state legislators to protect funding to libraries following Gov. Haley Barbour”s cuts.
- Announced it had received $1.95 million in general obligations bonds, which will be used to permanently fix the bridge at the intersection of Main Street and Highway 45 Alternate. The funds were originally intended to fix city streets.
- Purchased the former Sara Lee wastewater treatment plant for $1.
- Approved a partnership with Telepak, a division of Cellular South, to provide high-speed broadband to the city at no cost.
- Reappointed Maxine Shotwell and Keith Holton to the Planning Commission.
- Agreed to recognize West Point High School”s football team for winning the MHSAA 5A state title. Possibilities are under discussion.
- Agreed to purchase a $325 ad in the Daily Times Leader in support of West Point”s Martin Luther King Day celebration.
Jason Browne was previously a reporter for The Dispatch.
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