By Krystal Smalley
ksmalley@wbcowqel.com
What was scheduled to be a short meeting turned into clash of words and exact meanings when Bucyrus law clerk Vicki Dishon took the Bucyrus City Council to task for inexact Finance Committee meeting minutes.
The Bucyrus City Council held a regular joint committee meeting on May 7, during which time the Finance Committee discussed changing manpower hours for the legal clerk. Dishon currently holds the position of law clerk, casual secretary, Enterprise Zone manager, and Community Reinvestment Area (CRA) administrator.
Law Director Rob Ratliff had requested at the May 7 committee meeting that the legal clerk’s hours be changed from 15 to 22 hours per week at $29.58 per hour and the 10-hour casual secretary position, which paid $12.22 per hour, be eliminated. The requests would also keep Dishon at five hours per week as the Enterprise Zone manager and the CRA administrator at $29.58 per hour. Those hours had been set by a previous law director and are paid with funding from the CRA Monitory Fund and the Enterprise Monitoring Fund.
Dishon took to the podium at Tuesday night’s Bucyrus City Council meeting to correct numerous areas of the Finance Committee meeting minutes. Dishon argued that:
• The Enterprise Zone and the CRA positions are not covered under the manpower legislation and should reflect as such;
• The proposed changes to the two positions (Enterprise Zone and CRA) were not in the Llaw director’s request he made to the Finance Committee in his April 22 email;
• That a line referring to $5,000 put into the budget line for the law director clerk salary was to handle the proposed changes rather than to cover the possibility of additional hours, as was stated in the minutes;
• That there were two businesses involved in the Enterprise Zone program and one in the CRA program, rather than just one business in both categories; and
• Dishon claimed she never said that no more hours of work are needed in the department.
Dishon vehemently argued that during her 38 years working for the city and its law directors, the law director had always requested the hours for the law clerk and casual secretary, not the City Council.
“At the May 7 meeting, I informed the council committee members that the hours for the law clerk and the casual secretary have always been established by the law director and indicated at that meeting I stated then – for the lack of better words – rubberstamped by council,” Dishon said.
The minutes from the meeting directly quoted from the manpower ordinance (24-2014) that “the basic work period of the Legal Clerk hereunder shall be fifteen (15) hours per week with any additional hours to be authorized by the Law Director.”
The council amended the minutes as requested by Dishon.
This was not the first time Dishon has clashed with the city. The City of Bucyrus settled a lawsuit with Dishon in April after the law clerk filed a civil suit against the city alleging Sunshine Law violations. The city chose to resolve the matter in order to avoid any additional litigation and expenses. A resolution was passed at an April 7 Bucyrus City Council meeting that gave a $20,300 structured settlement to Dishon.
Dishon had also filed a lawsuit in 2003, also accusing the City Council of Sunshine Law violations, though that lawsuit had been dismissed with prejudice and settled out of court for $2,700.
The Guardian Angels informed the City Council that they will be assisting local seniors this summer who are unable to care for their lawns. Anyone with questions or who wishes to make arrangements should contact the Guardian Angels commander at 419-310-4862.
Bucyrus Safety Town will return June 15-19. There will be two sessions during those days from 9-11:30 a.m. and 12:30-3 p.m. at Bucyrus Elementary School. Registration forms can be picked up at the school, Good Hope Lutheran Church, Sonshine Childcare, and Bucyrus Police Department.