Council received an update from the new regional dispatch center by David O’Neal who was hired to be the director of the new center. Construction of the center is moving along and remains on schedule and on budget; occupancy is expected to be issued by July 31st. The rest of the equipment will then be installed and expected to be operational by October 2023. The center offered all current dispatchers positions, 49 in total, and it is expected that the majority will come over, including all Stow dispatchers. It is expected that Stow will move operations to the new center October 17, 2023.
City Council has been diligently working with the administration in reviewing an updated payroll plan for the non-union city employees which includes multiple changes to the current way they receive pay increases and the overall payroll structure. While Council approved a payroll study in 2021, the actual results of that study were just presented to Council during May 2023. Based on this delay in presenting the payroll study and allowing Council proper time to review, Council approved a retroactive 3% raise to all non-union employees that is retroactive to January 2023. This is consistent with the raise union employees received this year as well. Council continues to work with the Administration to provide an overall update to the payroll system for non-union employees as well.
Council also had an initial reading on 3 proposed Charter amendments which were presented by Council President Mr. McIntire. The amendments are as follows:
- A new section of the Charter which would be for transparency in government and would have the boards and commissions in our City also stream their meetings on-line for residents to review.
- A new section under the Mayor section of the Charter which would add a State of the City Address to be provided by the Mayor to Council to take place at a Council meeting each year.
- An update to the Council section of the Charter which would require the Clerk of Council office to be located within City Hall. Currently this is a requirement for all other elected offices such as Mayor, Finance, and Law, however it does not require it for the Clerk of Council at this time.
These items will continue to be discussed through the next two Council meetings and voted on at our August 3rd meeting and will require 5 out of 7 members of Council to approve to make the November 7th ballot.
Council also approved legislation that defines the role and responsibilities of the Human Resources Department which will be headed up by our new Human Resources Director who will be starting shortly. This is an important role and function within the City, and I look forward to the improvements made by having a dedicated City employee handling the human resource needs of our City.
Council has two meetings left before our summer recess and they will be Thursday July 27th and Thursday August 3rd.