Cost of living — City employees receive raises
City employees will receive a 4% cost-of-living raise this year — an increase that was built into the budget but not directly discussed during a public meeting.
Councilman Don Steveson said during the regular meeting on Aug. 18 that the personnel committee had recommended the raises, but not everyone appeared to be aware of them.
According to Steveson, the committee discussed wanting to establish an annual cost-of-living increase to avoid larger raise requests that typically surface every three to four years.
When the committee reviewed the issue, he said, members determined the raises had already been included in the budget, though it may not have been clearly communicated.
“Nothing has to be added to the budget. It was not really addressed really well during the budget session,” Steveson said.
He added that the committee wanted to bring the matter to the council’s attention and make it clear they still supported the raises.
No action was taken, because the raises were already approved with the budget.
City Clerk-Treasurer Stacy Haggerty said the city employs 28 regular staff members. The 4% cost-of-living increase will cost the city about $2,240 in total gross pay per biweekly pay period, she told the News Letter Journal. That will amount to approximately $58,000 over the course of a year.
Haggerty noted that department pay increases were last given in 2023.
City Beats
Notes from the Aug. 18 Newcastle City Council meeting
The council tabled discussion on companies that may be hired to review the city ordinance book. Mayor Tyrel Owens provided quotes from American Legal Publishing at $7,100.00 for six copies and Civic Plus at $15,143.70 for 25 copies.
The council approved a motion to move forward with the Rural Community Assistance Corp. and commit to a $15,000 match required for the program. Discussion had involved benefits to the city, type of grant and funding for a community coordinator.
The council tabled discussion on an ordinance referencing RVs in mobile home districts because engineer Chuck Bartlett was absent. Discussion on re-platting Lots 21-24, Block 11 was also tabled due to his absence.
Owens reported on meeting with the Wyoming Business Council, Harvard Growth Lab and for an EMS capacity study. He said that although no business was conducted, there was a quorum of council members present at the meetings. He promised that notice will be posted in the future.
The council approved a motion to make newly hired city engineer Steve Dietrich the department head of engineering and Greg Stumpff the department head of public works.
The council approved a motion to update the junk ordinance to assess penalties after two weeks instead of the 30-day waiting period that was allowed. The motion was amended to include fines associated with various offenses as follows: 1st offense – $50.00, 2nd offense – $250.00, 3rd offense – $750.00.
Police Chief Derek Thompson reported that the streets committee had met to discuss toy vehicles (bicycles, skateboards, etc.) on Main Street. A motion to put signs prohibiting bicycles, skateboards, etc. on sidewalks of Main Street from Summit to Railroad on both sides of the street was approved by the council.
Details on the rest of the meeting and several city meetings can be found in the minutes of this meeting on newslj.com in the public notice section.