Riverside hires interim city clerk

The Riverside City Council voted to hire Missy Carter as the interim city clerk at its meeting Monday night. Carter is the city?s utilities billing clerk, a position she assumed in January. The opening for the clerk?s job was created when the council accepted the resignation of City Administrator Tina Thomas on June 6. Thomas will continue to serve as clerk and administrator through the end of June, when Carter will become the new clerk.

The Riverside City Hall contains a bulletin board visible from the sidewalk. Thomas posted the job opening to the bulletin board Tuesday morning. The city is required to post an opening for 10 days in accordance with the veterans? preference law. Thomas also said she would post a description of the clerk?s position to the city?s website, and print off copies of the description for residents to read at city hall.

The council discussed whether to hire a city administrator. Newly appointed councilor Christine Kirkwood said that was an issue that concerned her greatly.

?Tiffin didn?t have a city administrator that was taking care of business and they now find themselves in all kinds of trouble,? said Kirkwood. ?They have spent thousands of dollars, and they have no idea where they?ve spent it. If you don?t hire someone who is qualified, this is what you end up with.?

Councilor Ralph Schnoebelen said it is the clerk?s job to handle the city finances, not the administrator?s.

?I want to see the position immediately advertised,? said Schnoebelen. ?The person hired must have a Riverside address so we have interest in the city of Riverside.?

Kirkwood said, ?We have no guarantee we can find someone from Riverside who is qualified.?

Riverside resident Mariellen Bower sat in the audience and asked to speak on the city administrator issue. Bower said she was on the council when an accounting mistake relating to taxes was made.

?I had a conversation with our county auditor, and he told me, ?You?re just as much to blame. You?re her boss,?? said Bower. ?I decided we were going to get someone capable, with education and a lot of experience.?

Larry Simon, another resident of Riverside, asked the council why it wouldn?t advertise the position in the newspaper.

?If you put an advertisement in the paper for a part-time guy to mow laws, how come you?re not putting in the paper this position, instead of putting it in the window here for 10 days?? asked Simon.

Councilor Todd Yahnke responded to Simon?s question by saying, ?We didn?t have someone in a position to apply for that part-time position. When you already have someone who is in a position as Missy is, she is a city employee now, and per our handbook she should have the first chance at a position.?

Schnoebelen remarked, ?Nobody from out of town is going to see the posting. Are they going to drive here??

Yahnke said, ?If you?re sitting there saying they have to be from Riverside?? to which Schnoebelen responded, ?I?m not saying from Riverside. I said Riverside address.?

Schnoebelen said he?d like to see the city council get involved in running the city and communicate with the people.

Yahnke said that when he was on the council eight years ago, ?our books were a mess.?

?You need to hire a good clerk,? said Schnoebelen. ?The council is hired to be responsible for running the city.?

?That?s why we hired a good clerk,? said Yahnke.

Councilor Kevin Kiene said, ?We still need someone in here running the day-to-day business. We need somebody here to answer questions and take care of that sort of thing.?

Schnoebelen replied, ?You make a list of what?s day-to-day business other than the clerk taking care of the book work.?

?I could make you a list. I?d be glad to,? said Kiene.

In other news, resident Kevin Mills addressed the council on water problems he is having in his ditch. Mills lives in the 200 block of Ella Street at the intersection with Fourth Street. He said his ditch is in such bad shape that he can no longer mow it because of the steep incline and the rocks in the ditch. He said he used to have a mowable ditch until the city dug it up. He also said his ditch did not used to retain water but now it does.

Mills said the problem is that the intake pipe on the north edge of the ditch is larger than the pipe at the south end of the ditch. He said the problem of water retention could be solved if the southern pipe were larger.

Mills cited a letter he got from the city on Sept. 22, 2009, which explained that the work on his ditch was to improve water flow.

?The letter states that, ?When completed, the city will attempt to leave the right of way in condition to be mowed by push-mower.? If anybody would like to come up to my property, bring a push-mower with you, because you?re not going to use mine to go through the rock, you?re more than welcome to, and I?ll walk behind you and help pick you up as you fall down. It is not a safe, mowable ditch anymore.?

The council also voted unanimously to participate in the National Flood Insurance Program. The program makes the city eligible for subsidized federal flood insurance.