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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1983-09-27city council minutesBook 24 Page 221 REGULAR MEETING September 27, 1983 12:00 Noon The Meeting was called to order by Mayor McCluskey. The Mayor requested that everyone stand and give the Pledge of Allegiance. The Roll of the City Council was called with the following members present: Raymond, L. Carter, J. Carter, Mallea, Betts, and Cowles. Absent: none. (APPROVAL OF MINUTES) It was MOVED by Cowles, SECONDED by L. Carter to dispense with the reading of the minutes from the Regular Meetings of September m, 1983, September 13, 1983, and September 20, 1983, and approve them as written. MOTION CARRIED (AUDIENCE PARTICIPATION) The Mayor asked if there was anyone from the audience who cared to bring anything before the City Council that was not on the prepared Agenda. Since there was no one, the Mayor declared that the Meeting would continue as outlined. OLD BUSINESS (REQUEST FOR A CHANGE IN THE AGENDA) The Mayor asked for a motion from the City Council to change the Agenda for the benefit of the news media to have the Reappointment of the City Officials the first item on the Agenda. It was then MOVED by L. Carter, SECONDED by Cowles that the number one item under New Business, Reappointment of City Officials, b number one under Old Business. MOTION CARRIED (REAPPOINTMENT OF OFFICIALS) The Mayor stated that he would like to appoint at this time those officials who were not in any sort of contention. He would then address the reappointment of two individual departments independently. He would recommend to the City Council the reappointment of the City Clerk and Mayor's Secretary, Betty So Keller; Ron Redmond, the City Engineer and Public works Director; Tom Burns, Fire Chief; Bill Buchta, Assistant Fire: Chief, Dennis Davis, Building Inspector; Nevin Holly, Parks and Recreation Director; Carla Hinkle, Deputy City Clerk; Al wing, Police Captain; Sylvia Robison, Planning and Zoning Director. MOVED by Mallea, SECONDED by Cowles that the City Council approve the recommendation of the Mayor for the reappointment of those City Officials as stated. Roll call vote: Those voting yes; Mallea, Betts, Cowles, Raymond, L. Carter, and J. Carter. Those voting no: none. Absent and not voting; none. MOTION CARRIED Book 24 Page 222 The Mayor then stated that at this time he would like to change the Treasurer appointment to Donna Talley and make it a joint appointment of Treasurer -Chief Accountant as it would bring it more in line for the smooth operation of the Office. MOVED by Betts, SECONDED by Cowles that the City Council accept the recommendation of the Mayor to make the change in the Treasurer appointment as stated by the Mayor. Roll call vote. Those voting yes: Betts, Cowles, Raymond, L. Carter, J. Carter, and Mallea. Those voting no: none. Absent and not voting: none. MOTION CARRIED The Mayor continued by stating that at "this time he would recommend the reappointment of Dick Dormois as Police Chief. MOVED by Betts, SECONDED by L: Carter Go" the reappointment of Dick Dormois as Police Chief. Councilman Cowles was recognized and stated that he did have a comment he would like to make at this time. Councilman Cowles said that he had made a conscientious effort to deal with the numerous problems that have come to his attention concerning the Caldwell Police Department. It is unfortunate that to resolve the continuing problems there really will be no winners. Those who will lose the most will be the citizens of Caldwell and the officers within the Caldwell Police Department. I believe, however, the Council must act with courage when its convictions, take whatever steps necessary to correct what I believe to be unacceptable conditions within the Police Department. I, therefore, for the past several months have come to the conclusion that I can no longer support the reappointment of Richard Dormois as Chief of Police for the City of Caldwell Police Department. Councilman Raymond was then recognized and stated that he was not happy with his options. Since an Executive Session some three weeks ago, I have :intended to . vote against retaining the Police Chief.`' Last Tuesday the'Mayor advised that'he would reappoint the Chief and asked Council support as not to divide.th6 City. I refused in my own mind to accept this reasoning because I feel that Chief Dormois has misled me and the Council in some concerns that we have expressed to him. I have consistently stated that I would not publicly discuss any employee shortcomings. But, I simply have lost confidence in the Chief. Litigation which could go either way would provide a hay day for - the press while seriously dividing the community. The end result being perhaps no individual as Police Chief in Caldwell could rebuild public confidence in this vital department. The bottom lane is would law enforcement in this city be better served at the present with that status quo even though there exists an irreparable rift between the Chief and the Council or would it bes to make termination. We will see how the vote goes. Councilman L. Carter stated that he would support the reappointment of the Chief of Police. In the past, he did make a few mistakes but he has corrected them and everything we have asked him to do he has seemed to do. He felt that the employees were working very well with him at the present time and the citizens as a whole seem to be pretty well satisfied with his job. He would support him. Councilman Betts was recognized and said he was sure everyone knew that he was in support of the Chief Comments he had received in the community did not indicate that they can't work with the man, did not have confidence, and'it seemed to him that basically the general public does approve of Mr. Dormois. Maybe there is another option to this; the Council feels that they Book 24 Page 223 can't work with the Chief. There is two options instead of one, one would be to get rid of the Chief and the other option would be Council also. The Mayor said that in defense of Mr. Dormois's position because he was not in a position to speak - he has received twenty -eight names from the Police Department from officers in the Department in support of the Police Chief with a statement that since they did not start until 6:00 p.m. last night, that was all they could get a hold of in that length of time. The Mayor also stated that he received many letters in support of the Police Chief and several telephone calls supporting his position. There was also people in the audience who had requested permission to speak in his behalf, but he was not going to allow that as it was a Council decision. The Mayor then asked for a roll call vote. Roll call vote. Those voting yes: Betts, L. Carter, J. Carter, and Mallea. Those voting no: Cowles and Raymond. Absent and not voting: none. MOTION CARRIED The Mayor then stated that the reappointment was supported, but he did neglect to state the length of tame. He then asked if the Council would accept January 1, 1985, with the intent to change the Code to some extent in order to go back to an annual reappointment instead of fiscal. The Council then determined that they would prefer further discussion on this point. (DECISION ON MAJOR MEDICAL INSURANCE) The Mayor called on Cleo Murphy to report with regard to information she had received with regard to the Major Medical Insurance for the City. Mrs. Murphy explained that she had made many phone calls and did conduct a rather indepth research to try to substantiate the final decision. .There was several companies who made offers to the City and they were basically pretty much the same coverage, but there was a difference in premiums. Blue Cross felt that they had the volume here and they would see what they could do for the City of Caldwell in getting their premiums down to a reasonable cost which t'ney have done. Mrs. Murphy then went over all of the various benefits from the companies making offers. It was her recommendation that the City of Caldwell accept Blue Cross. Councilman Raymond questioned as to when the new coverage should become effective. It was Mrs. Murphy's recommendation that they stay with Washington National for another month in order to get the records in order. MOVED by Raymond, SECONDED by Cowles that the City of Caldwell accept Blue Cross as the City Hospital and Life Insurance carrier beginning on November 1, 1983. MOTION CARRIED (.ACCEPTANCE OF FIRE TRUCK BID) The Mayor called on the Bld Committee to report with regard to their recommendation for the awarding of the bid for the fire truck. The Fire Chief informed the City Council that both he and Ron Redmond went over the bids and consulted with the Committee and determined that Starline's bid of $106,000.00 be the recommendation. The Chief also stated that if Council approved, they could consider the trade -in. MOVED by Raymond, SECONDED by J. Carter to accept the low bid of Starline from Boise, Idaho, and allow the Fire Chief the flexibility of negotiating as to whether or not the City would trade -in or keep the present engine. Book 24 MOTION CARRIED (COMMITTEE REPORTS) Page 224 Councilman L. Carter reported that the Golf Tournament between the City Council and the City Employees was to be October 8th at 9:00 a.m. Councilman Cowles reminded the City Council that there would be a State Budget Hearing at the Nampa City Hall on October 7th, from 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 Noon. Councilman Betts stated that the Stadium Board met and all was going well and they were in good shape as far as the budget was s concerned. The School Board brought a reque't'to increase the rates to several of the users wh-ch the Board approved. -- (MAYOR'S COMMENTS) The Mayor informed the City Council that there was a letter from the County Commissioners with regard to the City of Caldwell's prisoner billing. The Mayor read the first paragraph as follows: We recently have placed our jail operations and billings on line to our computer. As with most new computer programs, we have experienced some problems. It seemed more important to us to have the billings accurate than to have them to you on time. The Mayor further explained that there was a question as to when the bill should come from the County and there was also a wide range in the cost. He had asked that the Police Chief discuss this with Bill Anderson at the County. The Mayor also said that he would. like to have a good recognition of Veteran's Day on October 11th. He was working with Joe Miller and had several things in mind for the day. There would be some personal recognitions made that. day, a flag retirement, flag raising, and there would be some school children to sing. It was the Mayor's feeling that this day deserved more recognition than it has previously received and he would appreciate any assistance in the plans. There being no further busyness, the meeting was adjourned at 12:35 p.m. APPROVED AS THIS 4th DAY OF October , 1983 �� 4th, DAY Courfcilperson Councllperson ATTEST: ' - W, city Cl