Interim City Manager/Fire Chief recommends city pay him for 235 hours

By Lauren Brown
Burns Times-Herald

Should Burns city employees be able to cash in their comp time?

Interim City Manager and Fire Chief Bill Guindon told the council  at the Oct. 22 meeting that the comp time issue is a potential unfunded liability for the city.

However, the only individual with significant comp time accrued is Guindon, who accrued the hours while serving as fire chief.

Guindon cannot accrue comp time hours while filling in as the interim city manager. He has 235 hours of comp time built up, which amounts to $6,104.28.

Guindon suggested that the council pay him now for the 235 hours to clean the slate because he will be unable to take the time off now that he is also the interim city manager. He also noted that because the city isn’t paying the city manager’s salary right now, it has some money freed up.

Normally, city employees who haven’t used their comp time have the option of cashing it in at the end of the year, if there is enough money left in the budget.

Guindon also suggested that the council institute a new policy to deal with the comp time issue so that employees can’t accrue too many hours. One way to do this, he said, would be to work with department heads to keep a closer eye on how many hours their workers are putting in.

Councilor Craig LaFollette suggested that perhaps any extra hours need to be pre-approved by department heads.

Councilor Darwin Johnson wondered why Guindon couldn’t simply take time off during the winter when things slow down. When Guindon initially expressed interest in the interim city manager position, he said that the fire department was in a position to take care of itself while he took on city manager duties. Johnson reminded Guindon of that conversation, noting that $6,104.28 is a significant sum of money.

“There’s a lot that I’ve done above and beyond my normal duties,” Guindon said.

Mayor Laura Van Cleave said that historically, the fire chief position is one that accrues a lot of comp time, especially when the chief must respond to a fire or incident after normal work hours.

Councilor LaFollette stated that no one was questioning the work Guindon has put in, but that Councilor Johnson’s point was a valid one. If Guindon had not stepped into the city manager’s position, then perhaps he wouldn’t be costing the city an extra $6,104.28. He also said that if the council chooses to cash out Guindon’s comp time now, it should offer the same opportunity to all city employees. “Why don’t you clean the slate for everybody?” LaFollette asked.

The council decided to have City Clerk Dauna Wensenk add up all the comp time hours employees have accrued to see how much money the city is dealing with.

The council will deal with the issue and potentially make a decision at its Nov. 12 meeting.

In other business:

• Guindon discussed the Bureau of Land Management Helipad building with regard to the city’s pending litigation. “There are some issues of grave concern regarding the elevation of the property,” Guindon said.

The BLM currently has a 20-year lease with the city to occupy the building. Guindon said that the BLM has been working cooperatively with the city to address the building’s problems and has come up with a punch list of items that the city needs to address. Guindon said that the BLM has had engineers look at the site. He also encouraged each council member to go tour the site in person.

Mayor Van Cleave suggested that the council schedule an executive session with the city attorney to discuss the issue before the next council meeting.

“Please let the BLM know that we are trying to progress forward with this,” Van Cleave said;

• the council moved to approve a request by Guindon to go forward with obtaining a grant for the Department of Environmental Quality’s voluntary pollution reduction program.

Guindon said that Harney County is on the verge of non-attainment status as far as air quality is concerned.

If Harney County does breach DEQ’s air quality standards, it could have far-reaching implications for all residents. There could be limitations on wood burning stoves as well as burn barrels.

Guindon said that being part of this voluntary program will help educate residents about the air quality issue;

• Guindon provided the council with a quarterly budget update in which he said the city was currently at 28 percent of the budget.
Councilor Linda Johnson said that she had concerns regarding the city’s contingency line item, which went from 21 percent to 6 percent. “That’s scary,” she said.

She was also worried about the police department’s administration job. She said that the city budgeted about $29,000 for that position, but it is on schedule to cost the city about $38,000, if the city continues paying for the position at its current rate.

Guindon said that he and Police Chief Randy Cook are looking into the issue and will come up with a resolution to the problem;

• Mayor Van Cleave had concerns about city employees who remodeled the city hall bathroom. She wondered if perhaps the project shouldn’t have gone out for bid.

Councilor Bill Renwick stated that projects that cost less than $5,000 don’t need to be put out for bid.

However, the council did vote to put a policy in place in the employee’s handbook regarding this issue;

• the council approved a motion to allow Guindon to proceed with having an organizational position analysis. In essence, a third party will come in and evaluate certain city positions to see if the city is working as efficiently as possible.

Guindon said this will cost the city less than $1,000 and will probably take a month. He said that because this is a time of transition with the city manager’s position, it will be timely as well as help out the city manager hiring committee as they come up with a position description.

Councilor LaFollette was the lone councilor to vote in opposition to having the analysis performed;

• the city council voted to allow both Herb Vloedman and Selene Dobson to be on the city manager hiring committee;

• the council discussed the light poles that could potentially go in along the new stretch of sidewalk on Monroe Street;

• the council approved a transfer of a Burns airport hanger lease from Doug Campbell to Andy Root;

• the council approved two resolutions, one regarding an identity theft policy and another regarding a smoke alarm campaign grant.

The next Burns City Council meeting will be at 6 p.m. Nov. 12 at Burns City Hall.