London council: Pay increases for non-union employees are approved

BREANNE PARCELS
Press Staff Writer
Published September 20, 2004 11:37 AM CDT

London City Council members voted to give each non-union employee a 2-percent bonus, based on W-2's for 2003, during Thursday's meeting.

Councilman Jim Canney noted the council recently gave raises to employees represented collective bargaining agreements, but the city's pay grid for non-union personnel had not been increased since April, 2002.

"This (changing of the pay table) is a result of proposed legislation from (Councilman) Dick Minner," Canney said. "This is comparable to what we did for other folks."

While council had good news for city employees, it received some bad news about the progress of the Ohio-to-Erie Trail.

Dan O'Kelly, vice president of the Friends of Madison County Parks and Trails, said trail construction through the city has been impeded due to a lack of funds.

"Unfortunately, costs of trail construction from South Charleston to London were higher than anticipated," O'Kelly said.

Not enough is left to prepare the section of the trail which should run through London.

He said Jim Schneider, project manager, opened bids on Wednesday, Sept. 1, for construction from Maple Street to Wilson Road. The lowest bid for paving came in at $585,154, while the cost for the limestone base was about $327,000.

O'Kelly said only $287,000 remains in the Ohio to Erie Trail Grand fund, leaving a shortfall for either option.

"At this point it will not be paved, it will be a limestone base," O'Kelly said.

He apologized to the council because Schneider initially had agreed to perform drainage work along the trail at Maple Street and to erect signage. If that is to be done now, the city will have to pay for it.

O'Kelly said the group plans to apply for Clean Ohio trail grant funds in February of 2005, but the construction of the limestone trail could begin as early as next month. If so, the estimated opening date would be around Thanksgiving.

"I apologize for being the bearer of bad news, and no one is more disappointed than the Friends of Madison County Parks and Trails," O'Kelly said.

O'Kelly said the Friends of Madison County Parks and Trails soon will embark on an effort to raise funds to pay for the completion of the trail through London.

"It may take a while, but we'll find a way to get this trail paved, inch-by-inch, foot-by-foot, mile-by-mile," he said.

In other business, council:

* authorized the Board of Public Utilities to enter into a contract with the BBS Corporation for the engineering of the waste water treatment plant upgrade and expansion, not to exceed $1.53 million.

* authorized amendments to appropriations for street personnel and liability insurance.

* authorized London Safety Service Director Steve Hume to advertise for bids for a new entrance road to Merri-Mac Park.

* authorized a payment to Compu Corp. for $2,009.73.

Breanne Parcels can be contacted at (740) 852-1616, 1-800-282-3838 or by e-mail at news6@madison-press.com