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Officers receive raise
By Sharon Roosevelt
Pioneer Staff Writer
Officers of the Fort Stockton Police Department will receive an immediate $2.50 an hour raise after Tuesday night's City Council Meeting. At the beginning of Agenda Item Nine, Councilwoman Vanessa Cardwell made a prepared statement that she supported the "chain of command" in communications with city employees. She also stated that she maintained an open door policy for any citizen or city employee who wanted to talk to her.
After a brief discussion, the council voted to approve the raise, which is a 25 percent raise for beginning officers who make approximately $10 an hour. The lengthy motion, made by Councilman Louis Villarreal, included "improving moral" and
Agenda Item Ten concerned the existing grievance policy. Although each new employee is given a copy of the current grievance procedure and asked to sign a form saying that he has read it, it seems that some council members felt the procedures were not clear.
Councilwoman Vanessa Cardwell, who is the manager of Wal-Mart, submitted some proposed changes. They included the addition of department heads in a three-step procedure to report grievances. Her proposal included making the personnel/human resources department responsible for controlling any and all records of the grievance procedure, as well as making reports to the city manager analyzing any grievances filed.
Another change would be to require that all grievances and the responses to them be filed with an original and four copies.
Finally, Cardwell's proposal required that the City Manager be responsible for holding a meeting with department heads within a month to explain the changes. The department heads would be then be responsible for holding meetings within their departments to explain the changes.
After discussion, the Council voted to adopt the proposed changes.
Rick Herzberger, Division Director for Bureau Veritas (BV), a company that provides inspection services, on both residential and commercial construction for cities, made a presentation to the Council. His company is actively moving into the Permian Basin, and wants to contract with Fort Stockton to provide inspection services, including site inspectors and help with updating codes and fee schedules. The City would pay BV 60 percent of the fee charged the builder for inspection.
Doug May, Executive Director of the Fort Stockton Economic Development Corporation, in a telephone interview with the Pioneer, said, "One of the objections developers have voiced coming into Fort Stockton is that they perceive they would not be able to have projects inspected in a timely manner, which costs everyone money."
In other business, the Council:
- Accepted a Quitclaim Deed, from Joseph M. Shuster for fifteen feet of property on two lots.
- Approved a forgivable loan for $60,000 from the Fort Stockton EDC to Monarch Beach, a company that will build approximately 30 houses in the $85,000 to $95,000 range.
- Amended the Ordinance to increase the cost needed to go out for bid from $25,000 to $50,000.
- Approved an Ordinance requiring permits with background checks for peddlers and itinerant merchants within the city, including those attending special events.
- Heard discussion from Councilman Steve Hampton who asked Art Orona to speak about gas prices in Fort Stockton. When it was suggested that the Council as a body write to our United States Senators and Congressmen, Shelia Strother, who was seated in the audience said, "I've written to our state representative and the governor, and told them we are being gouged." Hampton moved that the Council prepare a proclamation expressing concern about price gouging to be sent to federal and state officials.
- Went into executive session to consider the sale of city-owned property known as the "Railroad Property." Upon coming back into open session, the Council authorized City Manager Danny Valenzuela to negotiate a sale on behalf of the city.
- Took no action on the anticipated litigation involving the Convention and Visitors Bureau after consulting with the Patrick Cordero, City Attorney.
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