By Terry Witt – Spotlight Senior Reporter
Bronson residential garbage customers are getting a bigger discount on their monthly garbage bills to offset the county commission’s $116 landfill special assessment than Waste Pro customers in Chiefland and Williston.
Skip McCall, representing Bronson waste hauler WCA, told Bronson town council members Monday the company has agreed to discount residential garbage bills by $5.80 per home each month.
WCA’s discount is more than twice what Waste Pro gave Chiefland customers. Waste Pro discounted Chiefland residential garbage bills by $2.64 per month. Williston, also served by Waste Pro, received a similar reduction.
WCA will charge each Bronson residential customer $6.05 per month compared to the $11.89 it charged before the county commission imposed the $116 residential landfill assessment.
The two commercial waste haulers are dumping their residential garbage at the landfill free of charge under the county commission’s recently adopted solid waste program. The $116 landfill special assessment is part of that program.
Privately owned waste companies like Waste Pro and WCA are passing on the money they save at the Levy County Landfill scales to their residential customers, though there is no set formula.
The county landfill assessment replaces residential landfill tipping fees at the scales. Residential customers and commercial haulers can transport garbage to the landfill at no charge.
A reporter at the Bronson Town Council meeting Monday night commented on the smaller discounts being offered by Waste Pro.
“We were very surprised when we saw that,” McCall said.
McCall said the $6.05 monthly WCA charge in Bronson accounts for collection costs only.
Adding Part Time Employees
Council members voted 3-1 to permanently hire three part-time employees to reduce the workload and stress of its full time employees. The council created new positions for a part-time water and sewer clerk to assist with utility payments and other administrative functions in the water and sewer departments.
A new part-time position was created in Bronson Parks and Recreation to assist director Curtis Stacy with PBR event planning and other duties.
A part-time public works technician position was created to assist Public Works Director Erik Wise with preventative maintenance on water and sewer equipment.
Councilwoman Beatrice Roberts, who voted against the motion to authorize the three new positions, reminded the council that the town is required by a loan agreement to make a $75,000 annual payment for the next 25 years on the sewer system expansion.
Roberts wanted to temporarily hire the three employees and decide after six months whether the city could afford to retain them, but Mayor Bruce Greenlee said he didn’t think Clerk Shirley Miller would have asked for the new positions if she didn’t need them.
Miller, in a letter to the board, outlined how the town has fewer employees than cities of about the same size that have central water and sewer systems. She gave the board a spreadsheet showing how Bronson was understaffed.
She said the savings in overtime for existing employees would offset much of the cost of hiring the three part-time employees.
Greenlee said the town wasn’t operating well when the last clerk and deputy clerk resigned. He said the town wound up hiring an accounting firm to go back over the books because certain matters weren’t being tracked correctly. He said the employees couldn’t keep up with the work.
“We could definitely use some administrative help in the office. When we lost our clerk and deputy clerk it was not okay,” Greenlee said.
Greenlee said the town is expanding and needed to make the necessary adjustments in town staff. “This isn’t 1984. In Bronson things have changed,” he said.
Councilman Robert Partin and Councilwoman Katie Parks also supported the permanent hiring of three part-time employees. Parks said she talked to Miller about the new positions. She said Miller felt the new employees would offset 75 percent of Deputy Clerk Melisa Thompson’s overtime and 25 percent of her own overtime.
Parks felt the part-time employees could help at the Town Hall counter and free up Wise and Stacy to do some of their outside work and inside administrative work.
Bonuses and Retirement Contributions
Council members unanimously approved the traditional $250 bonuses for employees. The bonuses always come at this time of year in advance of Christmas.
The council gave employees a contribution to their retirement account which amounts to 3 percent of what the employees themselves contribute.
However, the council postponed acting on a request from Miller for pay raises for herself and Thompson, both of whom have worked for the city for 90 days.
Miller said she was able to deduce from Quick Books records that her predecessor was given a raise after 90 days.
Greenlee said he will evaluate Miller before the next meeting and report back with his evaluation. Miller has evaluated Thompson. The council will apparently rule on the requested raises at that time.
The city doesn’t appear to have any formal policy that dictates whether employees get a pay raise after 90 days.
Miller is earning $15 per hour, much less than the woman who preceded her as clerk, Pam Whitehead. Whitehead held the job for several years.
Town of Bronson Regular Meeting November 19, 2018
Posted November 19, 2018
