Personnel, budget top Dunkirk discussion

DUNKIRK — Budget concerns and personnel issues sparked some lively discussions at Monday night’s council meeting.
The possibility of converting the city to a manager form of government, questions about the effectiveness of having one supervisor for two departments and the need for cuts in the 2011 were all on the agenda.
Councilman Eric Bowler raised the question whether the city should a city manager form of government, with one employee overseeing all departments and coordinating projects efforts.
Several council members questioned whether having Howard Fisher supervise the water and street departments was working. They questioned if Fisher had enough time to devote to both jobs.
Fisher was not present at Monday’s meeting, and council members decided they would discuss the issue at an executive (closed) session Nov. 17 at 5 p.m.
An open session to discuss budget-cutting options will be held Nov. 17 at 4 p.m.
City officials have previously discussed the possibility of trimming $150,000 from the 2011 city budget by either going to an all volunteer fire department or eliminating 24-hour police dispatcher services.  
Dan Watson, a former council member, said Monday that the street department’s workload will increase substantially in the winter, and that Watson didn’t believe Fisher could adequately supervise both departments.
Council member Judy Garr also questioned the amount of overtime that has been needed recently in the water department — a department that she oversees.
“Do we need a new superintendent for the water department?” Mayor Ron Hunt asked.
“I would say having the two departments (water and street) combined is not working out,” Garr said.
Bowler said he believes the city should clear sidewalks downtown area as well as along Main Street for students walking to school. “I don’t want to see kids walking on the state highway again this winter,” Bowler said.
Garr said that the street department workers were apparently having trouble keeping up with the leaf pickup and curb painting work, and questioned how they would have enough time to shovel sidewalks.
“That’s something we need to look into,” Hunt said, adding that he also felt the combination of the water and street department supervisor jobs should be reviewed.
Bowler said that he had the impression that some of the city employees do not like to work together, making it harder to get bigger projects completed.
Hunt suggested holding a special executive session for job performance evaluations.
Watson added that if the council was going to hold an executive session to discuss job performance, he hoped they would consider reviewing the operations of the police department canine patrol unit, too.
Watson said he has heard complaints, primarily from young people and non-residents about “borderline police harassment” in how vehicles were being stopped and searched for drugs for a half hour or more at a time.
“People are becoming afraid to come to this town,” Watson said.
Garr said she has also heard some complaints about the use of the canine unit.
Watson asked for a comprehensive review and some open reports about the work of canine officer Bobby Johnson, who is also the mayor’s son in-law.
Defending Johnson’s performance, Hunt pointed out, “I’ve also said if anybody’s got any complaints, they should come and see me.”
Asked after the meeting for comment on Watson’s questions, Hunt said, “I have no comment at this time.”
In other business Monday night, council members:
•Approved the use of $4,000 in Local Option Income Tax (LOIT) funds by the fire department to cover the cost of purchasing 10 new pagers to meet future federal standards. The pagers cost $435 each and the amount in excess of the $4,000 will come from other fire department funds.
•Agreed to make the next annual payment of $17,000 on the city fire department rescue truck to Ford Credit of Dearborn, Mich. The payment is due on Nov. 14, and money will have to be transferred from several different fire department funds to meet this expenditure as not enough money was originally set aside in the 2010 fire department budget equipment fund to make the payment without using LOIT funds as was done in the past. The fire department’s last remaining LOIT funds were used for the new pagers.
•Heard a reminder from Bowler that this is the last week for leaf pickup in the city.   
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