Following a preliminary Budget Committee meeting, the Waterloo City Council talked about increasing hours for the city recorder during its regular meeting on Tuesday, May 12.
During the budget meeting, increasing the hours for the city recorder came into discussion, with a suggestion to increase it to 60 or even 80 hours per month.
Currently the city recorder is allotted 40 hours a month to conduct work for the city, but is currently operating with a 100-hour budget per month through June while the outgoing recorder trains the incoming recorder.
During the City Council meeting, Councilor Bill Young suggested they bump the regular hours up to 60 per month.
“There’s a lot of business these individuals have to do and a lot of good ideas that us councilors come through and we throw it on their plate,” Young said. “And we expect it to get done in the next two, three weeks… It’s a lot of work for these people to do for our city and our community.”
Outgoing recorder Grace Reed said the decision to go to 60 or 80 hours depends on what the council wants.
“If you want to be taking stronger enforcement action and fines and getting (the fines), I would put it at 80 and hope the return would come from fines being paid and/or the places being cleaned up,” she said. “Or if you just want to add some more things in for the city recorder to be doing, then 60 is a great one… I personally think 40 is not enough to help the city thrive; 40 gets you by.”
Incoming recorder David Reed said there’s a backlog of records going back years that need to be processed or filed, in addition to regular city work.
Grace said a former recorder for the city, Kathy Nelson, has offered to train David at a discounted rate. Many of the recent recorders have not been fully trained for the position, so there’s a gap in skill and knowledge.
Nelson would train David on developing an annual budget, in addition to regular city operations. The council agreed Grace could essentially give her hours over to Nelson so the city does not lose any extra money.
The council decided to discuss the hours-increase at the next council meeting.
The next budget meeting will be held at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, May 26, and is expected to be presented during the June 9 City Council meeting.
In other business:
- The council approved a building permit for property behind 39426 Klum St.
- The council approved a building permit for conversion of a basement into a living space at 31070 4th St.
- David Reed reported he was able to gain access to the city’s computer files and cloud services that were password-protected by a former city recorder. Reed used two different services to clean the computer and gain access, which cost the city about $200.
- Young reported a plan to secure the city bus shelters to the ground.
- Councilor Dennis Scott reported there have been a number of complaints about garbage and safety concerns for children at a residence on Davis Street. After having notified the residents about ordinance violations, the city will seek outside assistance and begin fining the property owner.
- The council asked David Reed to begin looking at costs to fix the front porch at City Hall, which has been falling into disrepair and is softening underfoot.
- The council agreed to sign a resolution supporting dissolution of the Emergency Telephone Agency (ETA). For more information, visit LebanonLocalNews.com/911-panel-shutdown-okd-by-lebanon/.