Chester City Council approves base pay increases for employees

<span>CHESTER -- After a nearly two-hour executive session, the Chester City Council approved an increase in base salary for city and clerical employees on Monday.</span>

<span>The council voted 4-3, with aldermen Mike Blechle, Ray Allison and Nancy Crossland voting "no" and Russ Rader absent, and Chester Mayor Tom Page also voted yes.</span>

<span>City Clerk Nancy Eggemeyer said in that particular circumstance, the mayor's vote was required.</span>

<span>"We don't normally do (executive session), but I knew there was going to be a lot of discussion," Page told the Herald Tribune on Tuesday. "It was a healthy session."</span>

<span>According to Eggemeyer, base salaries had previously remained the same since 2006. The increases will bump base salaries for full-time city employees to $32,000 (from $25,000) and $29,000 (from $23,400) for clerical employees.</span>

<span>Both Page and Eggemeyer said due to the base increases, salary adjustments - with the amount based upon years of service - will be made on all personnel who were hired after 2006.</span>

<span>"We wanted the new employees' (salaries) under what some of the other employees who have been here awhile," Page said.</span>

<span>Also approved was an ordinance that set the salaries for appointed officials. A complete list of fiscal year 2016 salaries is included with this article.</span>

<span>During public comment, the council heard a presentation from Ryan Jones, a Geographic Information Systems (GIS) specialist with Thouvenot, Wade and Moerchen, Inc. Jones spoke about mapping the city's water, sewer and gas lines.</span>

<span>TMW is a full-service engineering/surveying firm out of Swansea.</span>

<span>"GIS is computer mapping with a spreadsheet or database behind it," Jones said of TWM. "If you can picture a paper map, you can only put so much information on that paper map until it starts to get overloaded and after time, it gets out of date.</span>

<span>"With GIS, it's set up in a cloud format, you get a living, breathing, document of your infrastructure - whether it be gas or sewer, what have you."</span>

<span>Jones said TMW would build and maintain the online database.</span>

<span>"We build that for you and make sure everything is working properly," he said. "The city is just in charge of the data."</span>

<span>The city would also receive a device - Jones mentioned a tablet or phone as possibilities - to access the information.</span>

<span>"It's always up-to-date," Jones said. "Like I said, everybody's looking at one database. You've got guys out in the field who say the mapping is wrong, they can update it in their iPad and everyone in the office is seeing that update."</span>

<span>Also during public comment, the council heard from Stephen Adams, vice president of Bernardi Securities. He told the council that the city saved $173,000 with its recent decision to refinance its 2005 bonds at a lower interest rate.</span>

Roundup

<span>The council approved the purchase of 10 tickets to the Chester Chamber of Commerce's annual dinner.</span>

<span>Alderwoman Nancy Crossland stated that the city's new promotional "10 Great Reasons" booklet is now available at the Chester Welcome Center and other locations around town.</span>

<span>A raffle license was approved for the Chester Rotary.</span>

<span>Eggemeyer said the city's preliminary budget has been completed and asked the council to review it for further discussion.</span>

<span>The council approved an invoice of $8,907.75 from J.T. Blankinship, Inc. for engineering services for the water line project on Route 3 south.</span>

<span>The council approved two change orders totaling $16,000 and a $132,462.40 pay estimate from Haier Plumbing and Heating Inc. for the water line project.</span>

<span>Chester Police Chief Ryan Coffey updated the council on the C.O.P.S. program's end-of-year party, his department's offer of city hall security training, orientation for the sergeant's position (June 9) and a prescription drug safety program at the Chester Senior Center on June 18.</span>

<span>Chester Fire Chief Marty Bert told the council his department responded to 13 calls for service in May and have had 42 calls thus far in 2015.</span>

<span>The council approved the dental insurance renewal package for city employees, with Eggemeyer stating there is no increase in rates.</span>

<span>The council tabled a decision on streets to receive oil and chipping. The total price for the project is $33,890.</span>

<span>Blechle cautioned the council that it could take up to three months to get paperwork back from the state in order to start the project. Page asked Blechle to meet with him prior to the council's next session to discuss the topic in more detail.</span>

<span>Page said the council will vote on the topic at its June 15 meeting. Proposed streets for oil and chipping are as follows:</span>

<span>High Street - German to Knapp: $7,770</span>

<span>Old Plank Road - High Street to Three Springs Road: $14,752</span>

<span>Maple Lane - High Street to Dead End: $633</span>

<span>E. State Street - Route 150 to Davis Street: $3,852</span>

<span>Davis Street - E. State Street to Murphysboro Road: $2,054</span>

<span>Stratton Street - Market Street to Dead End: $4,829</span>