Council rejects ordinance proposal

DUNKIRK — The clerk/treasurer will maintain control of where the city banks, as council declined to take over the responsibility. 

Dunkirk City Council on Monday rejected an ordinance proposal that would have put it in control of the city’s finances, rather than leaving them in the hands of clerk/treasurer Tina Elliott. 

Council members also had a work session prior to their first public hearing for the 2019 budget. 

At its Aug. 13 meeting, council was informed by Elliott that she would be switching the city’s banking from Dunkirk’s Citizens State Bank to MutualBank in Albany. Citizens State Bank was planning on reducing its hours to half-time. Elliott told council she needed access to a bank during business hours each day; She can only keep a limited amount of money on hand and is required to close the office if she doesn’t have sufficient change. 

Since then, Citizens State Bank has worked with the city to keep its accounts. It plans to stay open full days on Mondays and Fridays, with half days the rest of the week, and someone at its Hartford City branch will be available if Elliott needs more cash. Additionally, the bank matched MutualBank’s offer for increased interest. 

After Elliott’s initial decision to switch banking providers, Dunkirk Mayor Gene Ritter asked city attorney Wes Schemenaur to draft an ordinance giving council oversight of the issue. Per the proposed ordinance, the clerk/treasurer would have to consult council before switching financial institutions. 

Jesse Bivens was the lone council member who spoke in support of the ordinance at Monday’s meeting. 

“It has nothing to do with staying with (Citizens State Bank), it’s just that more people have control and a voice over one issue,” Bivens said. “Council should have control over where the money goes.”

“And you’re going to have the responsibility,” Elliott answered. “When I have to shut down … so far it’s been working great. I’m just saying if I do and the state gets involved, you guys take the responsibility.” 

Bryan Jessup said he was uncomfortable voting on the issue, and no other council member spoke up. 

“I guess council’s perfectly happy not having any control with where we bank, so I guess I’ll just let this issue die,” Ritter said. 

Also Monday, council made some tweaks to the proposed budget, including adding a new line item for paying the city’s volunteer firefighters. 

Currently, the volunteers are paid $25,000 each year. Jessup said he would like to give them a 2-percent raise (at its last meeting, council approved a 2-percent salary increase for all non-elected city employees). The volunteers are paid from the Local Option Income Tax fund. 

Schemenaur said the city is technically allowed to pay the volunteers out of the LOIT fund because they could be considered contractors, but the money should really be used for equipment the city needs. 

Jessup suggested paying the volunteers out of the city’s general fund instead. That way, LOIT money could be saved to be used for the planned purchase of a new firetruck. 

Council members agreed to add the line item to pay the volunteer firefighters to the city’s budget. Schemenaur pointed out that the city could always revert to paying the firefighters with LOIT funds if the Indiana Department of Local Government Finance does not approve of the new line item. 

Other changes were amending the proposed police overtime fund to $32,000 from $44,000. That number is still a $10,000 increase from last year’s budget. Ritter said as the city struggles to find additional police officers and dispatchers, employees are having to work more overtime. 

Council also decided to pay for concessions for Dunkirk City Pool out of the city’s general fund rather than the pool’s non-reverting fund, since the money generated by concessions goes back into the general fund. 

The total budget, which council member Jack Robbins estimated would be about $59,000 higher than last year’s, will have its first public hearing in the coming meetings. 

Also Monday, council members Tom Johnson, Robbins, Bivens and Jessup, absent Lisa Street: 

•Learned the city won a $46,980 master utility planning grant to improve its wastewater, stormwater and water lines. It was one of four communities to win the grant. 

•Heard a potential new hire for Dunkirk Police Department should be announced in October.

•Agreed to sell the property at 142 Angle St. to Floyd and Vicki Coons for $800 plus document preparation and recording fees expenses, which will not exceed $500. The city acquired the property through a tax sale default. 

•Approved spending no more than $5,000 to fix water lines for the pool. Two lines, a 1.5-inch and a 6-inch, both have leaks. Johnson said the project is estimated to cost $3,800. 

•Learned Dunkirk Park Board will not be meeting this month. Its next meeting will be at 4:30 p.m. Oct. 3 at the city building. 

•Adjusted a bill it approved at its last meeting. The original cost of purchasing sensors from Mine Safety Appliances Company, LLC was $1,700. However, Bivens said the price will be $2,040.74. 

•Approved the purchase of a $2,352.07 pump, paid a $632.51 bill for work on a firetruck and approved buying a snowplow blade for $545.49. 

•Agreed to hire Steven Gillette, who has been working on a part-time basis, to a full-time position with the wastewater department. 

•Heard there is a pre-demolition meeting set for 9 a.m. Sept. 18 at city hall, where officials will set the date for the first tear-down of blighted properties in the city. 

•Paid claims of $11,626.81.