SCOTT CITY COUNCIL AMENDS ORDINANCE OVER OBJECTIONS

The Scott City Council voted over the objections of the audience, and those of three council members, to amend an ordinance it had just put into place in January.

The ordinance, which prohibits two members of the same immediate family working for the city under the same direct supervisor, was passed Jan. 15 and came under scrutiny by the council after it hired John Rogers, at the time a member of the City Council, to head the public works department, a salaried city job.

Rogers' appointment seemed to violate this ordinance because his sister, Carolyn Tinsley, works as a secretary for the city administrator, who supervises all city employees including the public works director.

Monday night, five council members -- Teresa Crump, J.T. Gulley, Gary Miller, Marsha Zimmerman and Cindy Williams Uhrhan -- voted to change the ordinance so that it prohibits anyone from supervising a member of their immediate family. In other words, two members of an immediate family can now work together for the city just as long as one of them is not in a position to supervise the other.

Council members Fred Lange, Norman Brant and Brenda Moyers all voted against the measure.

"I don't want city hall to turn into a family affair," Brant said. "Our departments are so small, with usually 10 or so people in them, that if you have two or three people from the same family working in one and a close family member dies -- there goes a third of your department right there (for the services)."

Brant was opposed to changing the ordinance when the issue was brought up in the spring, when Rogers was first nominated for the public works position.

"I made the statement then that it's not right for us to change our ordinances to meet our own needs," he said, adding he feels that way now.

Moyers echoed Brant's position on having a large percent of the city's work force represented by one or more families.

"I asked Mayor Cummins why he felt like we needed to do this," she said. "And I did not get an answer. I was looking for an answer like we were trying to rectify a problem, or that we had made a mistake in the past. But all I got was, 'This is the right thing.'"

Moyers said she doesn't know if the ordinance was changed to accommodate Rogers' new position in public works, "But it certainly smacks of it."

The city had taken steps to eliminate the conflict with the original ordinance in a indirect way on June 25 when it voted in a special budget meeting to remove the city administrator's position. Scott City has not had a city administrator since Jon Saxton left in March and the budget committee suggested removing his position, which would save the city a $30,000 salary.

Council members had also discussed eliminating Tinsley's position, or at least revising it, to save even more from the city's budget. No action was taken on either measure since that meeting. Even though the council approved the budget cuts, they were not voted on and the budget remains with a $128,301 deficit.

Brant said he believes the council doesn't have any intention of eliminating the city administrator's position now that the ordinance has been changed.

"I really believe they are going to go right back and try to hire a city administrator now," he said. "There is still money in the budget slotted for an administrator."

Another issue the council has been divided on lately is a janitorial service that contracted with the city in June of 1995.

Shawna Rogers, niece of councilman Miller and daughter-in-law of councilman Rogers, has been cleaning the police station once a month and the city hall twice a month for $3,090 a year. Her contract expired June 30 and bids on the service were supposed to have been sent off last month. Bids were not sent and Cummins indicated at Monday's meeting that there were no plans to bid the job out this year and the city would continue to use Shawna Rogers' services.

Moyers said the janitorial contract was canceled by a unanimous vote at the May 20 meeting, even though Cummins told her no action had been approved.