The Bethel City Council introduced a series of ordinances at Tuesday’s meeting but did not pass any changes to the municipal code. The council unanimously introduced a measure to adjust the city budget to pay for overtime for city workers.
The measure includes funds for crews caught in the Sisyphean task of maintaining Bethel’s roads through this relentless winter of rain, freeze, thaw, and more rain. The road crew has spent evenings and weekends thawing culverts to prevent flooding. They have also smoothed roads, only to have them gouged with potholes during the next rainfall, sometimes hours later.
Workers in the short-staffed Finance Department have also been working overtime to prepare for the city audit and process a backlog of paperwork. City port workers are pulling extra hours operating heavy equipment, and water and sewer truck drivers are taking on extra hours as trucks break down and driver positions remain open.
The city has openings for five truck drivers with Commercial Driver's Licenses, a situation that Bethel City Manager Pete Williams says that the city has been in before.
“It’s a reoccurring issue finding CDL drivers to drive these trucks. It seems like we go a period of time where we’re fully staffed, and then we’re not,” Williams explained.
The measure also includes adjusting the budget to pay for parts for broken water and sewer trucks.
Also at Tuesday’s meeting, the city council unanimously voted to introduce an amendment to the municipal code requiring a minimum size for water holding tanks. The changes apply to “new home dwellings completed after January 1, 2019.” A one-bedroom dwelling would require a 600-gallon tank, a two-bedroom would require an 800-gallon tank, a three-bedroom home a 1,000-gallon tank, and a four-bedroom home a 1,200-gallon tank.
Additionally, the council unanimously voted to introduce a measure to dispose of the vacant police annex building, which, the proposal says, may have been known as the “Old Bojangles Building.” The more than 30-year-old building has significant structural issues. If passed, the ordinance would allow the city to demolish the annex.
Finally, the council voted against introducing a measureto pay for a new roof for the leaking city office building and to remove a large water tank and shed from the courthouse parking lot. The proposal failed 3 to 2, with Vice Mayor Raymond “Thor” Williams and council member Carole Jung-Jordan opposed to the city paying the high cost.
A public hearing will occur for all the measures introduced at the next Bethel City Council meeting on March 26, 2019.
