PT firefighter wages increase

Published 12:00 am Monday, March 12, 2001

The wage rate for part-time paid on-call firefighters responding to page calls and the rate for time spent in training increased from $9.

Monday, March 12, 2001

The wage rate for part-time paid on-call firefighters responding to page calls and the rate for time spent in training increased from $9.50 to $12.50 per hour on Monday, after approval by the city council.

Email newsletter signup

The rate for sleeping at the fire hall for part-time personnel was approved at the previous rate of $10 per hour. Part-time on-call firefighters who sleep at the station and are then paged to a call shall receive the $10 plus the hourly rate.

All of these rates went into effect on the day they were approved – March 5.

These rate approvals were part of several actions taken on Monday night, including:

Austin City Council

The council approved an increase in the salary for City Attorney

David Hoversten of 3 percent, to coincide with increases received

by collective bargaining unit employees of the city.

The council approved the increase in parking length from

two to four hours for the row next to First Street NE between

Second and Third Avenue, in the lot north of the Mower County

Courthouse. This would increase the parking for courthouse employees

by 25 stalls.

Erichson stressed the additional 25 stalls will not be reserved, but available, for courthouse employees. They will also be available to the general public. He added studies done have indicated the lot in question is underutilized from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., with usage increasing after 5 p.m.

The motion was approved 5-2, with Councilman Wayne Goodnature and Councilwoman Jeanne Poppe dissenting. The council will review the impact of the change in six months.

Finance Committee

The finance committee approved Director of Public Works Jon Erichson’s request for $25,000 to cover the cost of overtime hours necessitated by this winter’s snowfall.

Erichson asked for the money to cover up to 1,500 hours, over one-third of the 4,000 overtime hours accumulated by street and sewer maintenance employees this year. Erichson said that many of the snow "events happened to occur on weekends," which in addition to the amount of snowfall this winter, created a tremendous amount of overtime.

The $25,000 will be used to pay employees for overtime as an alternative to giving them the time off. The amount will come from money not spent in the city’s year 2000 budget.

The finance committee also approved Phase II land acquisitions

in the area of the Austin Municipal Airport up to the amount

of $500,000. When a federal grant for the acquisition is received,

the city will be reimbursed at the 90 percent level, in the same

fashion funds were reimbursed in Phase I of the project.

Erichson said that individuals who are inquiring about properties not yet up for auction in the area are acting on their own, and not with the authorization of the city.

"We’d appreciate it if they would stop," City Councilman Dick Lang said, of the unwanted visitors to the properties not yet acquired.