Council still considering salaries

The City of Portland’s elected officials’ salaries for 2019 have been decided. 

But the salaries and wages of other employees still need some work. 

Portland City Council approved one wage ordinance and tabled another at its meeting Monday. 

Council members also heard a report of Portland Mayor Randy Geesaman’s trip to Washington, D.C., last month. 

Council members approved the payroll ordinance for Portland’s elected officials, which includes Geesaman, clerk-treasurer Lori Ferguson, council and board of works members and Portland City Court Judge Donald Gillespie. 

Pay raises for Geesaman, Ferguson and Gillespie will go into effect Jan 1. 

A separate payroll ordinance for non-elected employees was presented to council as well. The city plans to give each employee a 3-percent raise for 2019. The property tax draw for June was almost $85,000 higher than last year, Geesaman said, allowing for the pay raises. 

The raises are a change from this year’s plan, which gave each full-time city employee a one-time bonus of $1,265. That was so all employees got the same amount regardless of salary, Geesaman said. 

However, on June 4 council members heard from Robert Moore, president of J & B Lodge 102, Fraternal Order of Police, who said bonuses were ultimately not beneficial for the city’s police officers and firefighters because their pensions are determined on base salary. 

The issue of police officers’ salary was brought up again Monday, with Portland Police Chief Nathan Springer sharing what he has observed in his department. 

Two officers left recently to work for other police departments. It’s hard to find replacements, Springer said, especially with unemployment being low in the state. Portland’s pay and benefits don’t help either, he said, and many officers don’t feel valued by the city. 

“I know a trash man’s important, don’t get me wrong, but that was an example one of my officers used,” Springer said. “He said, ‘A trash man works Monday through Friday. I work weekends, I’m out here getting cussed out, yelled at, bashed on Facebook and everything else.’” 

Springer said he approved of the original wage ordinance approved by council in April because it gave officers worker’s compensation and extra pay for certain certifications. But he’s worried about the future of the department, especially as he is planning to retire in the next few years. 

“I cannot even groom someone or have someone in line to be the next chief knowing that I’m gonna leave because I can’t keep them,” Springer said. “I have officers that have told me when I leave they may leave, because they don’t know who’s gonna be the next chief and they’re scared.” 

Without attracting and retaining new officers, the department will have to scale back its services in the city.

Springer pointed out that officers cover everything from shoplifting at Walmart, parade routes, 5K runs and special events at the Jay County Fairgrounds, along with the increasing drug problem. 

Council agreed on some modifications — fixing typos and adding a missing item — for the ordinance, but tabled it for further discussion.

Also on Monday, council members heard a summary of Geesaman’s trip to Washington, D.C., last month with the East Central Indiana Regional Planning District. 

Geesaman said his meetings with elected officials and federal departments all went well. While he can’t share any details yet, he said there will soon be news on flood mitigation in Jay County. 

“What I will say is we got great news from the Army Corps of Engineers,” Geesaman said. “We got over the last hurdle we needed to become a project for the Salamonie River and the Miller Branch.” 

Other news from the trip was that Portland and Winchester received a grant of $68,000 from the Economic Development Authority to use for business start-ups. Geesaman also met with several senators and congressmen about funding for the runway extension at Portland Municipal Airport, flood mitigation and doctors in rural areas. 

In other news, council members Janet Powers, Judy Aker, Bill Gibson and Don Gillespie, absent Judy Hedges, Michele Brewster and Kent McClung: 

•Heard a proposal for making a drive-through Christmas park at Hudson Family Park. A committee has been formed to work on the holiday attraction. Council approved the committee’s request to submit a grant application to The Portland Foundation in the City of Portland’s name for funding, pending approval from park board. 

•Learned that all 12 companies with tax abatements from Portland are in compliance with abatement regulations. The companies are assessed each year.

•Approved transferring $28,830 from the motor vehicle highway regular salary fund to the park regular salary fund and $152 from the police repair and maintenance fund to the police equipment fund. 

•Paid $519,210 to Jutte Excavating Inc. and $17,347.80 to Jones & Henry for continued work on the wastewater treatment plant. 

•Approved disbursements of $1,247,962.44.