Raises OK’d for village employees

By Ed Runyan

The village clerk said the village can afford the raises.

LORDSTOWN — Some of the uncertainty regarding the General Motors plant that was present this time last year is gone, but that still doesn’t mean the village should go forward with 3 percent pay raises for its employees, several village council members said.

Nonetheless, by a 4-3 vote at a council meeting Wednesday morning, with Mayor Michael Chaffee breaking the tie, village council did approve the raises for about 32 full-time and around 100 part-time workers for 2010 and 2011.

Stanley Zoldan and John McCarthy, the two council members taking office Friday, however, say it’s possible they will rescind the measure.

“Don’t plan to spend that raise quite yet,” Zoldan said.

Actually, unless the new council takes action, employees won’t be getting paid at all in January, village Clerk Judith Hall said.

Council split 3-3 on approving the 2010 and 2011 pay rates as emergency legislation, so the rates will go into effect in 30 days, and Hall is unable to issue paychecks until then, she said.

Councilmen James London and Richard Biggs, who attended their last meeting as council members Wednesday, were among the three members in favor of the raises.

They and Councilman Michael Sullivan are also the three members of the negotiation committee that recommended the raises to the full council based on the advice of Hall, who said the village will have sufficient revenue to pay the raises.

“Clerk Hall said the money was there,” London said.

London added that he and Biggs both thought that other council members should have served on the committee considering the raises, because he and Biggs had not run for re-election, but the other council members declined to serve.

Then, those other council members complained about the committee’s recommendation at the “11th hour,” London said.

Sullivan said he compared wages paid to village workers with workers elsewhere and found that only workers in the fire department were on the high end of the scale, so they were not included in the raises.

He also noted that the GM assembly plant is expecting to operate with two shifts through the beginning of the year, then shut down for a six-to-eight-week changeover, and then resume with two or more shifts. Those GM workers pay income tax to the village.

“Everything you hear is fabulous reviews for the Cruze,” Sullivan said of the small car that will be built in Lordstown in 2010, adding that it’s also possible the plant could add a third shift if the Cruise sells well.

Councilman Arno Hill, however, said the village faces great uncertainty over the costs associated with the $11 million east-side sewer project, which eventually will serve about 600 homes, or about a third of the village.

The village sued the engineer overseeing the project in common pleas court Oct. 30 because of his alleged failure to carry the necessary insurance, provide written change orders or communicate with council members on the progress of the project.

“We have no idea what the final costs are going to be on the sewers or the litigation fee,” said Hill, who voted against the raises.

Officials believe the sewer project is about $3 million over budget and likely to be finished about a year late.

“We’re still getting change orders,” council member Mary Jane Wilson said of the sewer project, adding that the village has a “pretty penny to pay back” in loans to pay back for the sewers. She also voted against the raises.

Wilson read an e-mail from village resident Ron Brown, who said he thought workers should be “elated” to have jobs, even with a wage freeze.

“I view our employees as our greatest asset,” Chaffee said in response. “To think we can just replace them, I think that’s offensive.”

runyan@vindy.com