City Refuses To Consider Reversing Union Vote

By Jeff Gulley

Nearly a year to the day since the Osawatomie City Council voted to opt out of the union, the council refused to hear more discussion on the issue.

Council member John Farley asked to add a resolution to the agenda Thursday night for the city to opt back into the Public Employer-Employee Relations Act. By a vote of 5-2, the council denied the request setting the stage for the union contract to end on Jan. 1, 2011. Farley and council member Larry Ratley voted in favor of adding the resolution to the agenda.

Farley, who was not on the council in December 2009 when the vote was taken to opt out, said he has been concerned since that time about what the move meant to the city.

“Osawatomie has always supported the union,” Farley said after the meeting. “I’m afraid we are getting away from what we are about.”

A large group of city employees attended Thursday night’s meeting and when the council chose not to discuss the matter further, most left the meeting.

At it’s Dec. 10, 2009, meeting, the council entered two executive sessions and then announced that the city would opt out of PEERA.

In it’s written statement, the council said the governing body made the decision after much thought and discussion.

“The decision did not come easily and was made purely out of a desire and need to move the city in a positive direction,” Council President Ted Hunter said, in reading the statement aloud.

At that time, City Manager Bret Glendening said that 14 employees were members of the union which made up 22 percent of the city’s workforce.

Farley asked that the issue be put on the agenda for this Thursday’s meeting but it was unclear whether that would happen.

In other news the council

• Heard a report from Brian Kingsley that the Streetscape project came in nearly $75,000 less than expected.

In his memo to the council, Kinglsey cited a good plan, an efficient contractor, the involvement of city staff and a favorable bid process for the savings.

The initial estimate had the city paying $214,000 or 25 percent of the project. The final cost to the city came in at $141,000. The project was paid for primarily with federal stimulas funds of $649,940.

• Reviewed a potential agreement with the Osawatomie Chamber of Commerce. The council Thursday night made some minor changes and will present it to the chamber board for review this week. The council could act on the agreement at this week’s meeting.

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Posted by admin on Dec 15 2010. Filed under News and Updates. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry