By Krystal Smalley
ksmalley@wbcowqel.com
Longtime city worker Vicki Dishon took the Bucyrus City Council to task once again Tuesday night over health insurance and job duties.
Dishon, who is nearing 40 years working for the city, fills the position of law clerk, casual secretary for the law director, Enterprise Zone (EZ) manager, and Community Reinvestment Area (CRA) housing officer. The four positions put Dishon exactly at 30 hours of work each week, a full-time position according to Obamacare.
In May, however, the Finance Committee started discussing the duties of the EZ manager and CRA housing officer and ordinances were drafted up. Dishon sent an email to Finance chair Bill O’Rourke in June asking him to keep her abreast of any further meeting regarding the ordinances.
Dishon said she was never informed of the Dec. 1 Finance Committee meeting in which the 2016 budget was discussed along with the two duties. She did, however, attend the Dec. 3 meeting, though she was not informed of the exact issues to be discussed.
During that meeting, Dishon said, the committee discussed changing the administering of the duties from the law clerk to the council clerk. She added that Law Director Rob Ratliff said he forgot to tell her about the proposed changes when she questioned him.
The legislation went in front of council in December, but was voted down due to nay votes from Bruce Truka, Steve Pifer, John Walker, and Wanda Sharrock. Dishon pointed out that the same four council members received letters from Council President Sis Love accusing them of Sunshine Law violations.
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Dishon said that when Jan. 1 rolled around, she still qualified as full-time with 30 hours, but was never offered health insurance as required by the Affordable Care Act. She added that she received an email from Ratliff on Jan. 20 that said there were insufficient funds in the budget for the EZ manager and CRA housing officer. As a result, Dishon would only be paid on an as-needed basis for the positions and her hours would be reduced to 25 a week.
“There is money there,” argued Dishon. “That money is the money that the companies pay. It has nothing to do with the General Fund. I’m a little concerned that the companies pay this with the understanding that this was to be used for someone – Enterprise Zone manager, CRA housing officer – to administer the Enterprise Zone and CRA programs.”
Ratliff countered that the definition of “administer” was not defined in the agreement, but stipulated that the matter was in the hands of the Finance Committee.
“I’m not quite sure what’s going on here, but if you’re going to reduce her hours and you don’t have money, then why did you guys even bother to have legislation to vote down,” asked Pifer.
Ratliff said the legislation was in place that changed the job duties while the budget was changed to move money in anticipation of the legislation.
Pifer made a motion to re-appropriate the funds back into the programs to pay Dishon for the EZ and CRA duties. The issue will go back to the Finance Committee for further discussion.
Service/Safety Director Jeff Wagner announced the city would no longer pick up furniture from the curb beginning March 1. One of the reasons was the wear and tear it put on the city’s trucks, but Wagner said a bigger concern was the spread of bed bugs.
“It could end up in any truck we use, in our facility,” Wagner said. “Already had happened once . . . It’s a problem in all 88 counties.”
Wagner added that he called the Crawford County Public Health department to inquire about bags that could be used to package the furniture, but he was told that no such bags were currently available.
Wagner said the announcement will be added to the community message on resident’s water bills.
Bucyrus Little League sign-up will take place from 2 – 4 p.m. on Feb. 7, 21, and 28 and on March 2 at Bucyrus City Hall.
The city will also be accepting applications for lifeguards on March 1. Applications can be turned in to the Mayor’s office.