(KLZA)--Following a 40 minute discussion and input from the public Monday night, the Falls City Council voted down two wage proposals setting wages and benefits for non-union city management positions.
A wage and benefit resolution was previously turned down during the November 3rd Council meeting.
Monday night a resolution was proposed which included an hourly salary of $65 for the City Administrator / Clerk / Treasurer, which was $10 an hour less than the November 3 proposal. The wage proposal for the Public Works Director / Utility Superintendent was $62.50 per hour which was $7.50 less than the figure proposed November 3. The proposal offered a wage scale for fiscal years 2026, 27 and 28.
The vote was 3 yea with 5 nay votes on the proposal with 1st Ward Council member Frank Killingsworth, 2nd Ward Council member Kenny Killingsworth, both 3rd Ward Council members Shawn Fouraker and Sara Ruiz and 4th Ward Council member Josh Kaster casting the nay votes.
Council member Joe Buckminster said that he felt the revamped negotiations committee that included two members who voted agains the November 3rd proposal and two who supported the propostal had arrived at agreeable figures to pass the proposal.
Prior to that vote, the Council voted 4-4 on a wage scale proposed during the meeting by Council member Fouraker which would have cut the City Administrators salary to $53.29 per hour and the Public Works Director to $53.85 per hour and was for a one-year period.
Voting no were Council members Derek Leyden, Joe Buckminster, Don Ferguson and Sara Ruiz. Mayor Mark Harkendorff elected not to cast a deciding vote on the proposal from Fouraker.
Council member Ruiz suggested prior to the vote that action be tabled and another committee meeting take place but Buckminster voiced his opposition to yet another committee meeting after having several meetings with two different committees to arrive at figures everyone could support.
Councilman Buck also said that if there are members of the Council still upset over the city utility line crew resigning in mass earlier this summer, and voting against wage proposals for the City Administrator Anthony Nussbaum and Public Works Director Trevor Campbell, it's time to get over it and move on.
Falls City EDGE President and CRA Committee member Kevin Malone addressed the Council spoke in support of Nussbuam and Campbell, calling them capable, talented people who are dealing with many things that should have been handled many years ago. He said the generational projects that are occurring in Falls City currently need oversight and extra work while both men are expected to accomplish their regular work at the same time.
Malone noted the City is a very large business with many responsibilities. Admitting the proposed salaries are significant, Malone said it is partly due to not keeping up on wage rates in the past and that the proposals are comparable and inline to other communities that own their own utility companies.
