Ortonville- The village remains without an official Department of Public Works, but the council will hire a seasonal employee to assist the current part-time employee who is taking care of critical village services.
The village council voted 5-2 at their Aug. 24 meeting to hire the seasonal employee to ‘get us through as necessary,? said Councilmember Kay Green, who made the motion. Council President Ken Quisenberry and Councilmember Mary Kassuba voted no.
The council has been grappling with what to do on a long-term basis regarding the DPW. Both DPW employees were terminated last winter and a contract with Teamsters Local 214 expired at the end of June and was not renewed. The village contracted for private services including snowplowing and drain work before hiring a part-time employee to do crucial work. Other work has been put on hold.
At the Aug. 10 village council meeting, Quisenberry proposed hiring a full-time DPW employee to be assisted by up to three seasonal or part-time employees as a permanent solution, but the proposal failed by a 4-3 vote.
Councilmembers Aileen Champion, Dan Eschmann, Kay Green and Melanie Nivelt favor researching the cost of contracting for private services.
Champion has found one company so far that has said they would provide the village with one 40-hour per week employee, available 365 days per year, with equipment at a cost of $130,000.
‘I’m not comfortable with one estimate,? Champion said at the most recent meeting. ‘Let’s wait until we get a new village manager to do the research so we can make a more informed decision.?
Current Village Manager Ed Coy is retiring at the end of September.
‘I’m still very disappointed in the council’s failure to move us in a direction,? said Quisenberry.