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SALEM – City council held the first readings of five separate ordinances on Tuesday night, including one to grant 2.5% wage increases to employees of police service unions this year and next.
All ordinances require three readings to come into effect, but with only five board members present, the rules could not be suspended to do all three readings at once. The five pieces of legislation will therefore require two additional readings.
Members of the three other unions representing the city’s employees in the service department, the utilities department and the fire department had already secured pay increases of 2.5% as part of a reopening of wages for the second and third years of their contracts.
The reopening of the wages of the police contract had been delayed. Once approved, the increases will be retroactive to July 1.
First readings also took place on a resolution to use US bailout funds in the amount of $ 306,000 in two installments of $ 153,000 this year and next year for any water treatment plant project. waste, an order for the sale of certain firefighting equipment through govdeals.com, a resolution allowing the Superintendent of Utilities to apply for a grant for the Salem Reservoir riprap project and an order relating to waivers of closing regulations.
The fencing ordinance would allow the Zoning Appeal Board to make decisions on requested exemptions for properties with lots fronting on two streets.
Mayor John Berlin asked Superintendent of Utilities Don Weingart when the grant application should be submitted, but Weingart said the city had until Nov. 1 to submit the documents to the Ohio Mid-Eastern Governments Association, leaving always at the board time to get the resolution. pass.
The council will then meet at 7 p.m. on October 5. The grant, if approved, will total $ 235,000 for the project, just under half the cost of the project, with city utilities covering the balance.
The city council met in executive session at the end of the meeting regarding a property purchase, with no action to be taken.
In other cases, city services / security director Joe Cappuzzello briefed council on the paving project, noting that RT Vernal and his contractors were able to get East Pershing Street past Sebo Stadium, between Ohio Avenue and South Lincoln Avenue, ground, meshed and paved in one day, just in time for the Lady Quakers college football game on Monday night.
Cappuzzello thanked St. Paul’s School, the Salem Memorial Building, the Salem Public Library and the City of Salem School District for their cooperation. He said RT Vernal is a valuable partner. There are still lanes, the drive to Centennial and the parking lots off Sunset at Waterworth Memorial Park, as well as work on manholes and waterproofing of paved roads.
“(We) thank the citizens for their patience”, he said.
City Councilor Steve Faber, who is the building manager for the Salem Memorial Building, congratulated Cappuzzello, the city’s work crews and RT Vernal and company for everything.
“We appreciate everything you do,” he said.
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