By Jordan Studer
jstuder@wbcowqel.com
In any business, training time for new employees affects productivity and the same is holding true for the Galion Auditor’s Office this summer. That issue was the dominant one at the Galion City Council meeting on Tuesday.
Within six weeks the auditor’s office lost two employees, therefore, once two new ones were found there was a lot of training to be done. Both individuals had so much to learn that they could not complete and report the reconciliations. An additional ordinance was brought forward to be added on to a previously entitled ordinance.
The ordinance that had been previously entitled stated that ten calendar days after the end of each calendar month the City Council Finance Committee should receive six items. The first three being statements of revenues, expenses, and each position. The fourth and fifth being monthly reconciliations of bank accounts and payroll. The last should contain any and all reports specifically required to be submitted under the Ohio Revised Code.
The list of duties to be completed and reported upon were not achieved due to the high amount of learning the new employees have been receiving. Council discussed that the two new employees are great and it is by no means a lack of effort that the duties have not been completed. It simply is just too much for the employees to provide at this current state of training.
Therefore, it was approved by council that until Sept. 1, 2016, the timeline that was previously set by another ordinance be extended. This will allow the new employees to further their training and properly complete the reconciliations and extra information that need to be reported.
The waiver period will expire on September 1st and the old timeline will be back in place. The council believed that the waiver period would ultimately ensure that council would maintain control over the finances of the city.
Another pressing issue of the evening was yet another dealing with finances. An ordinance entitled “Authorizing the safety-service director to execute an agreement with the Federal Aviation Administration for a transfer of entitlements for fiscal year 2013 in the amount of $150,000.000,” was approved. The result of the ordinance is that due to the fact that there is no related project needing funding in Galion, council agreed to free that money for the City of Wadsworth to use.
Also mentioned during the meeting was the success of the opening of Splash Park in East Park on July 8. Council member and chairman of the Parks and Recreation Committee Shirley Clark commented on what a success the opening day had been and how the outcome was well worth all of the roadblocks they had to go through to open it.
“I hope as many as possible got to get out to the East Park and see the new Splash Park since it’s opened. Friday was an excellent turnout. Everybody that was there was very happy with it. The kids were very happy. All the parents were happy. We had people from Ashland there, Bucyrus, and Mansfield. All of them saying they are coming back, that it was an excellent edition to Galion’s park systems,” Clark delightfully reported.
The last bit of business was discussion of any committee meeting changes which have been said to be all updated online.
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