Tuesday, November 20, 2001
The park superintendent will make $93,340 beginning Jan. 14.
By PETER H. MILLIKEN
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
CANFIELD -- Pay raises awarded by Mill Creek MetroParks commissioners are making the holidays merrier for park employees.
All nonunion salaried employees will get an immediate lump sum 33/4 pay raise retroactive to Jan. 1, 2001, to allow them to maintain parity with union employees.
The park board deferred action Monday on this raise until it received a report from Belz & amp; Associates of Cleveland -- a consulting firm that compared park employee pay scales with their counterparts in other Ohio parks and in comparable jobs elsewhere in the Mahoning Valley, said M. Virginia Dailey, board president.
Raise set aside: Salaried employees' pay raise money was set aside almost a year ago because of uncertainty over the park's revenues, added Commissioner Harry Meshel. Mahoning County voters approved a 1.75-mill, 15-year replacement levy for the park district Nov. 6.
Based on Belz' findings, the park commissioners also approved new pay ranges for various classifications of employees that will become effective Jan. 14 and result in additional pay increases for some employees, no raises for others, but no pay reductions for anyone.
They also voted to increase superintendent William Schollaert's salary to $93,340 effective Jan. 14, putting him at the middle of the range recommended by Belz for his position. That gives him an additional raise beyond the 33/4 percent, which raised his salary from $84,760 to $87,938.
Commissioners also gave raises averaging about $1 an hour to part-time and seasonal employees for next year. First year part-time employees will earn $6.95 an hour next year. Second year part-time employees will get $7.15 an hour.
For the benefit of those who aren't comfortable with driving at night during the winter, commissioners decided to have daytime meetings in January and February. Meetings will be at noon Jan. 11 at the Davis Center at Fellows Riverside Gardens and at 9 a.m. Feb. 11 at Mahoning County Experiment Farm in Canfield. All other meetings will be at the usual time of 7 p.m.
The board also decided to begin taking advance golf course tee-time reservations for next year and raised certain cabin and pavilion rental fees for 2002 by varying amounts to cover increasing utility, labor and supply costs. It also set all-inclusive rates for rental of facilities in the Davis Center, rather than charging a separate kitchen use fee.