PLYMOUTH – Thanks to a motion put forward by Councilman Gary Cook the Clerk-Treasurers office will begin the search for another employee.
During budget hearings for 2017, Plymouth Clerk-Treasurer Jeanine Xaver had approached the Council about the addition of another employee for her office to handle an increased work load. At that time Xaver told Council members that she could keep the new position within her budget for 2017.
At last night’s Council meeting Cook brought forward the motion to allow Xaver to begin the process of finding that new employee. Councilman Bill Walters seconded Cook’s motion.
Cook said that he had had a recent meeting with Xaver to discuss the addition to the Clerk’s office and praised Xaver and her employees for “keeping a close watch on tax payers money”. Cook pointed out new requirements by federal and state offices for tracking and paperwork in particular regarding all road projects that the city is involved with as a big reason for his belief in the need for another employee.
Federal regulations require that any community with a population over 20,000 people submit a detailed report to the government on all projects undertaken by the city. State of Indiana statute requires every community of over 10,000 to submit such detailed reports.
Xaver told Council members that currently many time consuming tasks are split between the members of her office that could be broken down to another position to allow duties such as the collection of traffic fines to be discharged in a more timely fashion.
Councilman Don Ecker asked Xaver if she had outlined the roles of all the employees in her office to spell out which duties would be taken by the new position, citing “…sometimes adding people isn’t always the best solution…” to efficiency.
Councilman Jeff Houin brought up another concern of the Council, stating that at the time of Xaver’s original request during the budgeting process, the Council had asked for a complete evaluation of all positions in all city departments to gain an understanding of each department and the function of all city employees and their pay scales.
To date that study has not been done. Houin “…strongly encouraged…” the Council and department heads to pursue that study with Ecker adding that “…it needs to move forward.”
Xaver said that the salary for the new employee would be shared by three departments – Water, Waste Water and Financial – and that it would not require any additional money in her budget.
The Council unanimously voted to allow Xaver to begin the process of hiring a Clerk.
