By Al Stover 

Ritzville City Council approves wage increase requests

 

Last updated 8/16/2018 at Noon



During the Aug. 7 meeting, the Ritzville City Council approved the updated 2018 wage scale, and wage increases for part-time employees at the Ritzville Police Department.

In June, Ritzville Police Chief Dave McCormick proposed a wage increase for department records clerk Marsha Bradshaw, from $12.90 an hour to $15.40. McCormick also requested a pay increase for part-time officer Jeff Lane, from $16.54 an hour to $19.15.

The Council also approved a proposed permanent wage increase for deputy clerks Michelle Asmussen and Julie Hartz, from $2,899 a month to $3,182 a month.

At the Jan. 16 meeting, the Council approved a temporary wage increase for Hartz and Asmussen for the extra work they undertook while the City was searching for a new clerk-treasurer.

The increase was effective until 30 days after the city hired a new clerk-treasurer. In April, the City hired the current Clerk-Treasurer Julie Flyckt.

Flyckt said the 2018 budget will remain the same because the wage increases will not change the overall budgeted amount for employee salaries.

The Council will need to approve an updated budget amendment ordinance for the wage increases at a future meeting.

In other action items, the Council approved the Ritzville Area Chamber of Commerce’s street closure request for the Ritzville Community Parade from 6 a.m. to 12 p.m. on Sept. 1.

During those times, city crews will close a portion of Main Avenue, from Jefferson Street to Columbia Street, and a segment of Broadway Street, from Division Street to Jefferson. Division Street will remain open for emergency services.

McCormick suggested the Chamber place notices around the city the night before the parade to inform people of the street closures.

The Council also approved a request from Wheat Land Communities’ Fair and Ritzville Rodeo to place a 4 foot by 6 foot banner and straw bales at the City entrance.

The banner will be displayed on the weekend before the fair, and be removed on Sept 3. The Fair will also post picket signs in straw bales at Division Street, on Main and First avenues, directing people to the fairgrounds for the event.

The Council authorized Mayor Gary Cook to sign a contract and provide payment to Central Washington Asphalt for $275,913. Council Member Scott Yaeger explained the payment is for the street rehabilitation work on First Avenue, from Cascade Street to the eastern city limits.

Once the payment is complete, the Washington Transportation Improvement Board will reimburse the City for funds.

ClearGov CEO Chris Bullock provided a demonstration on the company’s digital budgeting software. He explained ClearGov provides cities with tools to present budget information in a format that staff and residents can read and understand.

Bullock said a city’s finance department will complete the budget process and present the information to department heads and staff. The software will allow users to view various city funds, including expenditures, revenue, salaries and property taxes.

Bullock noted the software can provide a visual breakdown of finances to citizens in the form of charts. Users can also view projected revenues to future budgets, estimate expenditures on line-items, and calculate projected costs.

He explained the finance department can invite users to edit the document and send email reminders to department heads.

Bullock said another component of the software is it allows users to view the city’s budget and changes made to it over the year. It also provides a breakdown of a city’s spending, as well as department trends over time.

The software’s last component is a chart builder application. Bullock explained users can create a chart and view budgets from all cities within a 50 mile radius,

Bullock said the price for a city to purchase the software and register for ClearGov’s services is $4,700 for the first year. He added it would cost a city a $4,500 to use the software for each additional year.

Flyckt noted the fee will cover the cost of the developer updating and maintaining the software.

As for security, Bullock noted the company uses encrypted security and Amazon Web Systems, which he said is the same program the FBI uses.

After the presentation, Chamberlain said he felt the Council can discuss the potential software purchase at a later date.

In department reports, Flyckt announced the City submitted a grant application to the Washington State Archives Local Records Grant Program.

She noted the funds would go toward the cost of organizing the record vault at City Hall. She added the grant will also help cover the cost of installing shelves in the vault and storing records.

Flyckt said the City has received over 68 percent of the required responses for the Income Survey after the second mailing.

She added Evergreen Rural Water of Washington will schedule a time to visit Ritzville and conduct personal interviews with residents who were selected for the survey.

In committee reports, Yaeger provided updates on the city’s Washington State Transportation Improvement Board (TIB) preliminary project application, which the Council adopted at the July 17 meeting. He noted there were two projects that had cost reductions.

Yaeger explained the total cost of the two overlay projects, First Avenue from Clark Street to Weber Road, and Division Street from Sixth to 10th Avenue was originally estimated at $640,000.

He said the cost for both projects was reduced to $486,000 after he made adjusted calculations.

Another cost change was for the three chip seal projects. Yaeger noted TIB included engineering work on the cost for chip seal projects.

He said the three projects were originally estimated to cost $204,000. The addition of engineering costs increased the estimated total to $214,000.

 

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