City Council OKs new employee contract

DAVE MOSIER/independent editor

Van Wert City Council approved legislation for a new three-year contract for city union workers and also introduced a new ordinance targeting trash collection regulation during its regular meeting Monday evening.

City Council unanimously approved legislation approving a new three-year contract for city workers represented by the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), which includes street, water, and sewer department workers, as well as clerical and other employees.

Safety-Service Director Jay Fleming said the new contract provides an increase in bankable compensatory (comp) time from 72 hours to 80 hours, with a cap of 240 hours total; increases a stipend for purchasing required steel-toed safety boots from $160 to $180; and also includes no wage increase in the first year, but then increases of 2 percent and 2½ percent in the second and third year of the contract.

The contract is similar to one given to the police and fire unions, but also has differences based on the type of workers represented and their different pay scales.

Also Monday, City Council unanimously approved introduction of an ordinance that would regulate city trash collection, while also providing penalties for those who store trash and garbage on their premises, including garages or other outbuildings.

The new legislation includes some changes from the first measure, as well as some of the same requirements. Trash haulers would have to have their vehicles and related equipment inspected, either by the Ohio State Highway Patrol or a city-contracted inspector, while each vehicle would need to have a decal showing it is approved for trash hauling.

While the ordinance would also require trash collection to be done of the same day recyclables are collected, small trash collectors could avoid having to collect on the same day as recycling by having customers keep their trash in a garage or other location not visible from the street, and then collect the trash from that location.

Penalties for trash haulers not following the regulations would be a first-time fine of $175, a fine of $350 for a second offense, while a third offense would mean loss of a hauler’s trash collection permit. Haulers that continued to collect trash after losing their permit could face a fine of $500.

Legislatively, City Council also approved on first and final reading a measure accepting a donation of land at the intersection of Westwood Drive and Fox Road, as well as one approving an easement, and legislation to authorize a contract for the city’s annual street painting work.

A proposal to up the requirements for a fire permit was dropped, with city residents now allowed to have small campfires without having to obtain a permit. However, large bonfires and similar fires would still require a permit.

“We just felt this was a better compromise,” said Fleming, who added the permit process wasn’t all that effective, since firefighters still had to go on fire runs to those sites, as well as other fires, when a call was received.

A special City Council meeting will be held at 6 p.m. Wednesday, June 21, to discuss the city’s 0.22-percent safety capital tax, the city tax budget, and strategy and ballot language for a proposed 0.28-percent tax increase, as well as possible revenue sources and potential cuts if that ballot issue would fail again.

The next regular meeting of Van Wert City Council will be held at 7:30 p.m. Monday, June 26, in Council Chambers on the second floor of the Municipal Building, 515 E. Main St.