Town discusses employee wages

Tuesday night during the Thermopolis Town Council meeting, there was lengthy discussion regarding the pay Town employees receive. The discussion was initiated by Town Mechanic Joe Mounts, who expressed concern regarding how hours are handled and paid out.

Mayor’s Assistant Fred Crosby provided some background, noting people were called out on Christmas to plow. Of those, the on-call person is paid time-and-a-half for all the time he plows while others who are called out get straight time.

Mounts noted the situation affects those who have been here longer, as they might have days off they have to take so they don’t lose them. If they take a day off, then get called in for an emergency, they have to make up the time they took off before any hours put in on the job count as overtime.

Those employees who have worked over 15 years receive eight hours of vacation per paycheck, or 16 hours a month. However, they can only carry 240 hours of vacation, which means they have to either take vacation time or lose it.

“If it’s a non-worked day,” Mounts said, “we have to make that day up before it is considered overtime.” He added people are not just volunteering their time — time they could be with families — to come in and fix the situation, and he would like to see such time considered overtime.

“It makes it worth our while to come in,” Mounts said, and providing it goes to good employee care. Further complications come into play when determining how pay is handled with regard to holidays — especially when they land on weekends.

Crosby mentioned at Tuesday’s meeting, and at those previous, that they might consider writing or revising policy with regard to Town employee pay. A work session to address the issue is planned for 6 p.m. Feb. 7, prior to the council’s next meeting.

As for other action during the meeting, council approved three permits for Shorty’s, to allow the business to serve alcohol at: the Boots n Buckle Ball, 5 p.m.-midnight Feb. 11, the Gottsche Medical Gathering, 5 p.m.-midnight Feb. 25 and the Chamber of Commerce Banquet, 5 p.m.-midnight March 18. All events are at the fair building.

Council also approved a property insurance renewal. Crosby noted the increase to the insurance over last year is $1,646.

Also during the meeting, Town Engineer Anthony Barnett reported Carol Stark from the Department of Environmental Quality has moved on to a different position, so everything that has been discussed with regard to the new cell at the landfill has been put on hold. He expects there to be some scrambling once they hear back from DEQ to get everything in order. He would not be surprised to see a DEQ representative at a future meeting.

Barnett also reported the State Revolving Funds (SRF) application was turned in, and receipt of the document was confirmed.

Being optimistic, Barnett said it looks like some funding for the water line replacement project would be received, but he will wait until verification before moving forward with the project. Funding is also being provided through the Wyoming Water Development Commission.

Phase one of the project involves lines from the water treatment plant along south Fifth and Seventh streets; Phase two involves Hot Springs State Park and phase three involves Valley View Drive from the Cedar Ridge pump station.

Councilman Bill Malloy reported on the Wyoming Association of Municipalities winter workshop he attended Jan. 11-13. Malloy expressed his appreciation for allowing him to attend, and much of the information he received was about budgeting. He noted the feeling he got was cutbacks across the state would not be as severe as people think.