Riverside Council raises employee pay 3 percent

The Riverside City Council approved a 3 percent pay increase for its city employees Tuesday night, despite objections from councilor Ralph Schnoebelen that he didn?t have the information needed to make a decision.

The council voted 4-1 in favor of the measure. Councilors Todd Yahnke, Kevin Kiene, Christine Kirkwood and Rodney Waldschmidt voted in favor, while Schnoebelen voted against the proposal.

Six employees will receive pay increases. Those employees are Kevin Engel, Brad Herrig, Bryan Lenz, Donna Leyden, Jeanette Sexton and Don Mullinix. Missy Carter was the utility billing clerk until she was appointed interim city clerk in June. The council appointed her full-time city clerk at Tuesday?s meeting. She is not among those who will receive a 3 percent raise. The council agreed to pay her a wage rate of $17 per hour as the city clerk.

Schnoebelen asked the rest of the council if the employees had received individual evaluations. Yahnke said former City Administrator Tina Thomas asked the city employees if they wanted the council to meet with them individually.

?They didn?t feel that was necessary,? said Yahnke.

Schnoeblen said, ?I?ve asked this before and never got it ? what is the total wage and benefit package of each employee? Is that something we can have before we make a decision, so we know where we are? We figure that into part of the salary of all of our employees.?

Yahnke said the employees? benefit package can be considered separately from their wages. He said the employees? salaries are based on the overtime they work. Waldschmidt said the council budgeted for a 3 percent increase in wages during its budget meetings earlier this year.

?I?ve never been able to get what the benefit package is,? said Schnoebelen.

?It?s all public record,? said Yahnke.

Schnoebelen remarked, ?Our benefit package exceeds by far any other industry around.?

Waldschmidt said, ?No, we?re right in line with other cities. That?s why you go to work for a city ? for the benefits.?

Riverside resident Bob Schneider said, ?All Ralph is asking for is a total compensation package.?

Yahnke replied, ?He can see that any time he wants.?

Waldschmidt said, ?I feel we are very fortunate to have three longtime employees. We need to do what we can to keep them.?

?I agree with that,? said Schnoebelen.

Schneider said, ?All he (Ralph) is asking for is the total package.?

Yahnke remarked, ?He knows how much the insurance is. He knows how much they get paid. What else do we need to tell him??

?The total package,? said Schneider.

?He can?t add two numbers together?? said Yahnke.

Kiene called for a point of order. He said citizen time was over.

Riverside resident Robert Boecker addressed the council about the creek that runs near his house on East Hickory Street. Boecker just bought the house he lives in on East Hickory a few months ago. He said that shortly after he moved in, the creek nearly filled with water after a rain.

?It was like rapids running through there,? said Boecker. ?If you go in, you?re not coming back.?

Boecker has four kids and is afraid for their safety. Apart from that, the rapidly moving water is eating away at his land, eroding it into the creek. He said he told the city about his problem and was instructed to talk to the Iowa Department of Natural Resources (DNR) and the Iowa Department of Transportation. He called the DNR, which instructed him to talk to the city.

?I just bought the house. I don?t want it to collapse,? said Boecker.

The council instructed City Engineer Mike Hart to investigate the creek to see what could be done to fix the problem.

In other news, the council awarded a contract to Streb Construction of Iowa City to make improvements to the Highway 22 turning lane. The total bid was approximately $889,000.

The council approved the annexation of 23.42 acres of property owned by Stumpf Development at the northeast edge of town into the City of Riverside.