The Glasgow City Council’s first meeting of 2023 was held on Jan. 3, in the Council Chambers at the Glasgow Civic Center. In addition to normal council agenda items such as the Mayor, committee and department head reports as well as the approval of consent agenda items, the Council discussed Glasgow Police Chief Robert Weber’s desire to amend the recommendation from the employee incentive hiring committee for the police department; whether to approve the Glasgow City-County Library’s continuation of purchasing the land behind the building; as well as the possible street/sidewalk projects for the Transportation Alternative Program Grant Application.
The consent agenda included the regular council agenda, payment of claims for Jan. 3, 2023, in the amount of $74,727.24; payment of Valley Court apartment claims for Jan. 3, 2023, in the amount of $4,672.70; and the minutes of the Dec. 19, regular council meeting. Dan Carr made the motion to approve the consent agenda items as listed, Brian Austin seconded, and all were in favor.
The next item for discussion was Police Chief Weber’s request to change the recommendation from the Employee Incentive Hiring Committee for the Police Department. The committee recommended breaking up the incentive to $1,000 increments four different times, however Chief Weber recommended only providing the bonus two times, as “it makes it a little bit simpler as far as the milestones go,” explained Weber.
Police Chief Weber explained he was looking at giving $2,000 for the time they are sworn in and the second $2,000 when they make probation, with the stipulations that they commit to a three-year contract. According to Chief Weber, currently if they leave before the three-year commitment, the person has to pay back the academy cost, so Chief Weber is also asking to have the incentive be included as payback to the city if the three-year commitment is not fulfilled. “….That was just something I thought might work out better for the city that way, just more of a guarantee,” stated Chief Weber. After the Mayor asked to move forward for approval, Councilman Butch Heitman made the motion, Dan Carr seconded and all council members favored moving forward with this incentive in order to hopefully recruit more Glasgow Police officers.
The next item on the agenda included approval for the Glasgow City-County Library to continue with the purchase of the land behind their building with the exception of a judgement that will be paid at closing. It was the recommendation of City Attorney Lee Pekovitch to proceed. Councilman Austin made the motion to proceed, Councilman Heitman seconded, and all were in favor, which resulted in the approval passing.
Director of Public Works Paul Skubinna and Glasgow grant administrator Ashleigh Byers talked about the various projects that could be done under the Transportation Alternative Program Grant Application, including updating particular trails, raise and convert abandoned railroad grade from railroad alley to US 2 into a paved walking trail with connectivity back to the sidewalk at Ezzie’s Westend, among other potential projects. “I have had input from a number of members of the public that are really excited about the potential for Glasgow to improve and increase its connectivity, of its more hiking, walking, biking trail,” stated Skubinna.
Mayor Rod Karst then reported that one bid come in for the Glasgow Pool project. “We’ve been looking at 3.775 million and the bid came in just under 4.7 million so it was kind of like ‘whoa’,” said Mayor Karst. “We do not have to accept that bid. We’re going to look at that again and possibly put it out for reissue, call for bid.” Skubinna stated that he believed the bid was not a gouge, but it’s just the state of things currently with inflation occurring so rapidly right now. “Prices are outdated by the time the paper comes out the printer. It’s definitely a challenge right now. We’ve got a couple options to go back out to bid with maybe some different bid alternatives.”
The department heads provided their report on how things are going including the city attorney.
The next City Council meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, Jan. 17, at 5 p.m., in the Council Chambers in the Civic Center. The City Council typically meets the first and third Mondays of the month, however due to the New Year holiday and Martin Luther King Jr. day, the meetings were shifted to Tuesdays for January.
