City of Florence hires temporary operator
Employees receive raises; city declines chamber membership
Florence City Council members accepted a proposal at the meeting Jan. 16 from Dale Vanderhoff, an instructor at Salina Technical College, that will bring the city into compliance with Kansas Department of Health and Environment.
The city will send Mark Bishop to school to become a certified wastewater plant operator. The session which Bishop will take through STC, will last 18 weeks. During this time the city will need to hire a certified wastewater operator according to KDHE requirements. The city has not been able to hire a suitable candidate.
Vanderhoff offered to serve as the city's contracting operator at a cost of $1,250 while Bishop completes his training. He is a certified operator as well as an instructor.
Council members unanimously approved Vanderhoff's plan. His contract began Thursday and will continue until May 18.
In a related matter councilmen discussed changes to water, sewer, and trash ordinances. Also up for discussion was the city's current billing system and the possibility of changing all billing to a monthly schedule.
Members decided to add billing and the sewer and trash ordinance reviews to a planned work meeting for water ordinance updates. A date for that meeting has not been announced.
Following an executive session for the purpose of discussing personnel council members returned to open session and announced pay raises would be issued to the following employees: Mark Bishop, Darla Gore, Larry Scriven, Erik King, Phil Crom, Charles Hefton, Chet Hefton, Ryan Mitchell, and Tommy Wilson.
Approval for all raises carried on a three-to-one vote with councilman Randy Mills opposed.
In other business, the council:
— unanimously agreed to withhold its membership from Florence Chamber of Commerce for at least a year due to the chamber going on record as standing against passage of the Marion-Florence school district bond issue. The city has paid for annual dues and monthly meals for city clerk Darla Gore and economic development chairman Sarah Cope.
— heard from Del Leeds, Americans with Disabilities Act officer, the Jan. 7 mediation meeting between the city and the U.S. Department of Justice lasted three and a half hours and ended in impasse.
Leeds said the next step will be an investigation by the Justice Department, but he does not anticipate any action on the matter for several months.
— heard the fire department will hold its annual pancake feed from 7 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Feb. 5 at Florentine Center.
— approved a schedule for firefighters to rotate practice runs with department vehicles to be sure all volunteers are familiar with each truck. Also approved was an expenditure for speaker microphones and batteries for two radios and a plan to have all the trucks serviced.
— approved selection of May 15 and Oct. 16 for spring and fall cleanup days.
— agreed to allow a building permit for Reilly Reid to put a storage building on his property as long as Reid meets city regulations.
— heard Cope will return to a February meeting with a finalized proposal for city planning and zoning regulations.
— heard year-end reports from acting police chief Erik King, city superintendent Jeff Wagner, and city clerk Darla Gore.
