Peabody city council urged to add full-time officer
At the Monday meeting, Police Chief Jeff Pohlman presented the Peabody City Council with a request to hire another full time police officer.
Peabody officer Larry Starkey has resigned effective Nov. 12 to take a position with the Marion County Sheriff's Department.
After briefly discussing how involved the council should be in the hiring process, they voted to go into executive session for the purpose of discussing personnel. Chief Pohlman remained in the session which lasted 20 minutes. Upon returning to open session, no further discussion was had and no action taken.
They also entered an executive session for the purpose of discussing the acquisition of property. City Clerk Cindy Harms, City Attorney Audie Strotkamp, and Al Reiss of Reiss and Goodness engineers were included in the session. No action was taken after the returned to open meeting.
The Neighborhood Revitalization Plan hearing was held and the corrected plan and ordinance were approved on a 4-0 vote. Corrections to the plan were necessary because of some incorrect wording on the original agreement.
Employee evaluations were scheduled for a special meeting to take place Dec. 16 in executive session. Each employee will meet with the council for a half an hour. Employees to be evaluated are Stephanie Ax, Cindy Harms, Ronnie Harms, Darren Pickens, Dennis Pickens, and Jeff Pohlman.
The council reviewed the employment of part-time maintenance worker, Gary Markham. Markham's term of employment is scheduled to end Nov. 29. A review with Ronnie Harms and Darren Pickens will take place at the Nov. 25 meeting.
A "cement policy" was established to help make curb and guttering replacement standard for all property owners. The city will pay $5 a foot to replace high-back curbs and $4 a foot for lay-down curbs. If a property owner wishes to install a driveway approach, the city will pay for the cement that would constitute a normal curb and gutter.
To expedite making reservations for city employees attending schools and seminars, the council agreed to apply for a credit card with a $500 limit. They also approved $25 per day for food.
Westview Manor contacted the city with a water billing problem. Because of its own bill paying procedures, Westview is unable to pay the water bill to the city by the 15th of every month. The nursing home requested a waiver of the late charges which can run as high as $100 a month. The council agreed to allow both nursing homes to have until the water shut-off date to pay their water bills with no late penalty.
The city's trash service contract with Stutzman Refuse was discussed. The contract will expire at the first of the year. Council members indicated that they are pleased with the city's relationship with Stutzman and would like for the company to continue picking up the trash. They will seek quotes from the company for future service with and without recycling.
Darren Pickens will be in charge of inspecting future sewer hook-ups for both replacement and new construction.
Mayor Ensminger told the council that the school district is looking at replacing the concession building at the city park. Tentative plans call for an upper deck area that will be enclosed and have three separate soundproof rooms, plus an outside area for filming. Ensminger noted that the plan is merely at the discussion stage.
