Archive for Thursday, June 17, 2010

Edwardsville moves on long-term strategic goals

By Nicole Kelley

June 17, 2010

A $25,000 contingency fund in the city of Edwardsville took a hit Monday night after the City Council passed two action items totaling $18,920.

First, the council barely passed a $9,420 contract that would hire a consulting firm to prepare a classification and compensation plan for city staff. Voting against the contract were council members Craig Crider and John Eickhoff, while Chuck Adams and Doug Danner voted in favor. With Mark Bishop absent, Mayor John “Tiny” McTaggart cast the favorable tie-breaking vote.

City Administrator Michael Webb said the initiative for the contract came out of strategic planning discussions that took place last year. He said the council had made “personnel needs, staffing retention and benefits” a priority when it came to long-term goals.

“The purpose is to lay out each of our jobs and have a formal job description and make sure they are meeting the requirements,” Webb said.

Some of those requirements, Webb said, include making sure they match with the Americans with Disability Act.

Webb said the first step in the process was establishing a formal employee handbook, which the city was lacking before. That process took place last year.

Through that process, Webb said it became apparent the city was lacking official descriptions of staffing positions and in turn a reliable source for an accurate measure of compensation.

Webb’s recommendation was to hire McGrath Consulting Group, Inc. for the project, which was the company who handled the employee handbook project.

The second action related to the contingency fund Monday night was the unanimous approval for $9,500 to acquire a new municipal court software program, which includes data conversion and two laptop computers.

Police Chief Mark Mathies said the system used now by the municipal court was antiquated and did not connect to the department’s record management system, forcing items such as tickets and fines to be entered twice and increasing the possibility for errors and misuse of staff time.

The new system, Mathies said, is also compatible, unlike the old system, with an electronic ticketing program, which is a future enhancement being considered by the police department.

The program will be purchased from the company Jayhawk Software.

In other business, the council:

• Approved, 4-0, minutes from the May 24 meeting.

• Approved, 4-0, payment of bills totaling $233,100.22.

• Approved, 4-0, the fireworks sales application for Steve Walker to be located at 10339 Kaw Drive.

• Heard a report from police chief and interim fire chief Mark Mathies regarding personnel changes at the police and fire departments.

On the police side, Mathies said a police officer was let go due to an “adverse employment action.” The city will be starting the application process soon to fill that position.

At the fire department, Mathies said firefighter Marc Dewalt accepted a position with the Kansas City, Kan., fire department. Adding that open position to the two positions that are being funded by a recently awarded grant through the United States Department of Homeland Security’s 2009 Assistance to Firefighters Grant Program’s Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response (SAFER) Program, Mathies said the city would be hiring three new firefighters. He said in response to the city’s desire to make the emergency medical service a priority, the applicants for the three positions must be paramedic-certified.

Comments

  1. hmm (anonymous) says…

    Another police officer gone. How many officers are still on the force that were there when Mathies started? Also, where is all this money coming from to replace vehicles, train new personnel and upgrade equipment? Seems like the EPD is going thru funds and personnel at a quick clip.