Dunkirk council makes tweaks

DUNKIRK — The city’s budget got some final tweaks.
Dunkirk City Council on Monday made some final changes, including the salaries for the clerk-treasurer and deputy clerk, added funds for two police officers, reduced funds for police overtime and added a line item for payment of volunteer firefighters.
It also agreed to close an alley, heard about updates that need to be made to the community pool and discussed making an intersection a four-way stop.
Raises that were previously discussed for clerk-treasurer Tina Elliott and deputy clerk Jodi Hines were approved 3-1 by council members Bryan Jessup, Tom Johnson and Jack Robbins, with Jesse Bivens opposing and Lisa Street absent.
The changes include a yearly salary of $37,440 ($18 per hour) for Elliott; $33,280 ($16 per hour) for Hines; and $14,976 ($12 per hour) for a full-time/part-time clerk. The raises for Elliott and Hines are increases of more than 16 percent.
“I’m just trying to tell the council that this is a huge reach,” Bivens told Elliott. “I think it’s wrong and I want to say why it’s wrong.”
Including insurance, her salary is more than $47,000, Bivens added.
“That salary’s always been down for years,” Johnson said.
“We do appreciate everybody,” Mayor Gene Ritter told council.
When asked by Dace Mumbower, superintendent of the water department, what cuts might have to be made to the 2017 budget after approving the raises, Ritter replied, “We’ll figure it out as a collective group … What’s best for the city.”
Ritter, who oversees the police department, also requested that two police officers be added in 2017, in part to help reduce overtime for current police officers. The mayor and Police Chief Dane Mumbower discussed whether to add one or two police officers, finally agreeing to add $90,000 to $95,000 to the 2017 budget for salaries and insurance for two officers.
Mumbower agreed to have $20,000 taken out of the overtime budget, reducing it to $23,800.
Robbins, who had suggested reducing the overtime budget, said two new officers would help with the newly implemented neighborhood watch program, A Better Life-Brianna’s Hope and with blighted properties.
“We’ve got a lot of things to work on. It’s a good step,” Robbins said.
Council agreed at the request of Jessup, who oversees the fire department, to have a line item for payment of volunteer firefighters added back into the budget that had been deleted in 2012. The deletion meant that firefighters have been paid from the local option income tax fund for several years.
“I’m just worried they’re going to cut LOIT,” Jessup said.
The change for 2017 will add $23,757 for the line item for pay. Local option income tax funds will be used for equipment.
At the request of zoning administrator Duane Marcum, council approved closing an alley between Lincoln and Commerce streets, near Angle Street, because a resident owns property on each side of the alley.
Marcum said the resident will take care of the legal fees and upkeep of the alley, and Ritter told Marcum to have the resident contact Dunkirk city attorney Wes Schemenaur concerning legal issues involved in the closure.
Johnson reported that an inspection of Dunkirk Community Pool revealed the need for a few changes. Those include resurfacing the upper and lower decks of the pool area and making the baby pool a separate unit with a separate filter.
Robbins informed his fellow council members that adding stop sign and parking signs at the intersection of Broad and Washington streets to make it a four-way stop will cost $700. Council decided to table the issue until Schemenaur can check on making an ordinance to restrict parking between Grand and Washington streets and whether a blanket ordinance can be written to include parking on all city streets.
In other business, council:
•Approved purchasing clothing for three firefighters out of the clothing allowance of $2,665.19.
•Approved a water bill payment plan for Greg Wilmore following a leak. He will have three months to pay the bill when it is received.
•Tabled a request to sponsor the Jay Community Center 5K circuit for $250 until Elliott can find out what the money will be used for and to ask if the city will be recognized on advertising.
•Decided to run an ad in The News & Sun to have food donations brought to the city building to help the food pantry at Dunkirk Nazarene Church.
•Learned from Robbins that properties on which blighted homes were torn down last year will be for sale in about a week.
•Approved paying claims totaling $183,509.38.