Jan 4th
Town Council's
first meeting of the new year was held Jan 4th in Town Hall
(AKA WaWa Plant). While recovering from a fall, senior Council
person Joyce Gibson was absent. The short meeting did net some
insight and nuggets. Here's what we gleaned from the public
meeting.
Town employees earn sick leave days and vacation time off. Some of the days off may be banked and held for the following year. There is a limit on the amount of banked time. Use it or lose it comes to mind.
Town WaWa operator Drema Thomas has to be on site to keep the wet stuff flowing. So much so, she was about to end 2021 with many banked days about to be tossed aside. Instead, Thomas and others in the same boat were paid for those unused days.
Much discussion ensued on Council not voting to allow such a pay out. Back and forth they went until someone looked up the policy and procedure manual and Lo and Behold, right there it was in black and white. Employees are allowed a pay out instead of losing the benefit.
Note: A few years back State workers were cut out of the ability to bank all their sick days. For many employees, they were able to use all those saved days to cover hospitalization costs as they moved into retirement years. When the law was changed state employees like school system workers had little incentive to save time off. So, now a days, sick leave time is used any time they have a hang nail. Thus, in this county, school system workers have horrible attendance as they burn off the time before losing it.
Back to this meeting.
During the financial report, it was revealed, in the month of Dec, the Town general account lost $1700 and their wawa account dropped $7400. The Log Factory ledger stayed in the red for decades. For December it was up $1100. That's what happens when rates are raised above payable levels and just leave.
Don't get all worried readers. That just mentioned wawa account has over $178K setting in the bank. In the Town general account, it too is a cash cow with over $108,000 in the black. all the new COVID dollars, they are not included in those above figures.
Last Summer Council spoke on purchasing a new dump truck to replace the existing Chevy truck. They never made the purchase. Today they plan to replace the engine in the old Chevy and get it back in duty.
2021 was a rotten year for logs floating down the Elk River. Other than getting chopped up into less visible floaters, the poo greeted swimmers, kayakers, canoers, waders, and fisherman.
For this Jan 4th public meeting, Mayor Shamblin informed, everything is working as it should at the Log Factory. That is good news for sure
The Town WaWa plant sets on a small parcel of land on Main Street. During construction of the place there were concerns raised that the foot print was too small for the plant updating. The new plant fit but just barely. Council has purchased that little white house next door to the plant for $55,000. It is owned by Councilperson Jerry Stover.
For this meeting the question was what $$$ do we use to pay for the place? Some wanted to use COVID funds while others thought securing a bank loan would be the best route. In the end, Council voted to pay for the place with cash from the wawa account. Jerry Stover abstained from the vote.
Council still plans to hire a Badge and purchase a Badgemobile for municipal use. During that discussion, someone suggested to just buy a side by side, cover it with Christmas lights and spray paint POLICE on the side of it. There was laughter. You ever hear ofsomething and it just doesn't set right? There's a gut feeling that having a ticket writing Badge on the payroll is a bad bad idea for many reasons.
Just when they want tourists coming their way, they start writing shirty tickets for stuff like a tail light out, no sticker, or holy smokes, the for ever so offensive transgression of driving 25 mph without a seat belt affixed. Dastardly we say!
Lots of locals bring tanks to the plant and fill up with wawa. Currently they write down how many gallons they hosed out and then pay their bills at the end of each month. That method has been working well for decades. Last year Council decided to come up with some kind of coin based dispensing machine (like at a laundromat) for those that need to purchase the wet stuff. The bad idea has not been acted on to date.
Years ago, Council decided to install a credit card dispensing machine inside the office for use by customers. That decision has also fell by the wayside. The idea came up again during this meeting.
Finally and still talking about draggin their feets, a new wawa project has ground to a halt because Town attorney Roger Hanshaw has never done the paperwork to condemn a piece of property to hold a new storage tank. We're talking months of wait and still counting.
So goes another Council meeting. The new year is off like a herd of turtles!
AW
Town employees earn sick leave days and vacation time off. Some of the days off may be banked and held for the following year. There is a limit on the amount of banked time. Use it or lose it comes to mind.
Town WaWa operator Drema Thomas has to be on site to keep the wet stuff flowing. So much so, she was about to end 2021 with many banked days about to be tossed aside. Instead, Thomas and others in the same boat were paid for those unused days.
Much discussion ensued on Council not voting to allow such a pay out. Back and forth they went until someone looked up the policy and procedure manual and Lo and Behold, right there it was in black and white. Employees are allowed a pay out instead of losing the benefit.
Note: A few years back State workers were cut out of the ability to bank all their sick days. For many employees, they were able to use all those saved days to cover hospitalization costs as they moved into retirement years. When the law was changed state employees like school system workers had little incentive to save time off. So, now a days, sick leave time is used any time they have a hang nail. Thus, in this county, school system workers have horrible attendance as they burn off the time before losing it.
Back to this meeting.
During the financial report, it was revealed, in the month of Dec, the Town general account lost $1700 and their wawa account dropped $7400. The Log Factory ledger stayed in the red for decades. For December it was up $1100. That's what happens when rates are raised above payable levels and just leave.
Don't get all worried readers. That just mentioned wawa account has over $178K setting in the bank. In the Town general account, it too is a cash cow with over $108,000 in the black. all the new COVID dollars, they are not included in those above figures.
Last Summer Council spoke on purchasing a new dump truck to replace the existing Chevy truck. They never made the purchase. Today they plan to replace the engine in the old Chevy and get it back in duty.
2021 was a rotten year for logs floating down the Elk River. Other than getting chopped up into less visible floaters, the poo greeted swimmers, kayakers, canoers, waders, and fisherman.
For this Jan 4th public meeting, Mayor Shamblin informed, everything is working as it should at the Log Factory. That is good news for sure
The Town WaWa plant sets on a small parcel of land on Main Street. During construction of the place there were concerns raised that the foot print was too small for the plant updating. The new plant fit but just barely. Council has purchased that little white house next door to the plant for $55,000. It is owned by Councilperson Jerry Stover.
For this meeting the question was what $$$ do we use to pay for the place? Some wanted to use COVID funds while others thought securing a bank loan would be the best route. In the end, Council voted to pay for the place with cash from the wawa account. Jerry Stover abstained from the vote.
Council still plans to hire a Badge and purchase a Badgemobile for municipal use. During that discussion, someone suggested to just buy a side by side, cover it with Christmas lights and spray paint POLICE on the side of it. There was laughter. You ever hear ofsomething and it just doesn't set right? There's a gut feeling that having a ticket writing Badge on the payroll is a bad bad idea for many reasons.
Just when they want tourists coming their way, they start writing shirty tickets for stuff like a tail light out, no sticker, or holy smokes, the for ever so offensive transgression of driving 25 mph without a seat belt affixed. Dastardly we say!
Lots of locals bring tanks to the plant and fill up with wawa. Currently they write down how many gallons they hosed out and then pay their bills at the end of each month. That method has been working well for decades. Last year Council decided to come up with some kind of coin based dispensing machine (like at a laundromat) for those that need to purchase the wet stuff. The bad idea has not been acted on to date.
Years ago, Council decided to install a credit card dispensing machine inside the office for use by customers. That decision has also fell by the wayside. The idea came up again during this meeting.
Finally and still talking about draggin their feets, a new wawa project has ground to a halt because Town attorney Roger Hanshaw has never done the paperwork to condemn a piece of property to hold a new storage tank. We're talking months of wait and still counting.
So goes another Council meeting. The new year is off like a herd of turtles!
AW
Mayor Josh Shamblin