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A pay increase and extended vacation time
were some the items addressed at the most recent Middle Trinity
Groundwater Conservation District Board meeting Thursday, June 7.
All board members – Fred Parker, Jerry
Fronterhouse, Rodney Stephens, Jerry Hinshaw, George Bingham and Ed
Dittfurth -- were present for the regular monthly meeting, which was
held at the Dublin City Council chambers.
Also present were Joe Cooper, MTGCD
general manager; Sharon Mainord, administrative assistant, and Wes
Burris, field tech. It was the first meeting for Dittfurth, who was
appointed by the board during the May meeting, to replace Boyd
Waggoner. There were only four audience members, including two members
of the press, and there were no public comments.
Just prior to the discussion on salaries
and vacation time, Chairman Rodney Stephens voiced his desire to
address the issue in executive session. Mainord reminded Stephens that
no executive sessions were listed on the agenda, and advised against
such a session. She then offered to leave the room while the board
considered the item, as did Cooper and Burris.
Before exiting the room, Cooper addressed
the board briefly.
“I have a two-part recommendation,” he
said. “You recall that our budget gives the board a little latitude –
we’ve got five percent available for salary treatments. I think we’ve
all incurred some cost of living increases in the recent past, and I’d
like to recommend a minimum of three percent as a salary treatment for
my staff.”
The second part of Cooper’s
recommendation involved his desire for more time off due to family
commitments, including a new grandchild.
“I myself, am not asking for a salary
treatment,” he said, “but another week of vacation (he currently has
three) would mean more to me than anything in the world.”
After the three MTGCD employees left the
room, the board members discussed the salary issue, and after a brief
deliberation agreed to the requested three percent increase, as well
as an extra week of vacation for Cooper.
After the employees returned, Chairman
Stephens informed them of the board’s decision, and noted that members
also discussed forming a committee (Hinshaw, Bingham and Dittfurth) to
review the personnel handbook regarding vacation policy and salary
treatment, so that future such decisions will be based on such
criteria as length of employment.
Manager’s Report
During the “Manager’s Report” Joe Cooper
updated the Board on the progress determining what type of laboratory
equipment the district will need to offer water quality testing to the
public.
“URS, (a hydrology firm) who we
contracted with to help us with various tasks, has almost completed
one of those tasks,” Cooper said, “determining what laboratory
equipment to use to meet the testing parameters we wanted for our
water lab.”
Cooper noted that he’d provided each
board member with a copy of the company’s recommendation.
“We’ve actually ordered the equipment to facilitate our lab,” Cooper
said, adding that he’d also ordered a PH meter and some test strips.
“I think URS did a great job,” he added.
“If you look at their spreadsheet on the equipment, they did exactly
what I asked. They went through and showed us the parameters we’re
testing for, the actual part number and the price to order. The only
thing we might need them to do now, is when we get the lab ready to
set up, and get ready to use the equipment and we have any questions
about how to use some of it appropriately, then they will send their
chemist down to help us do that."
Cooper also noted that they would soon
need to have wall signs made. “Anytime you have hazardous chemicals in
a laboratory environment, it has to be posted on the wall,” he said.
“There’s one of these testing parameters that does have a substance
that will require that posting. We may also need to get another beaker
or two.”
Cooper also reported on the work of the
Finance Committee.
“Your finance committee has met,” Cooper
said. “We convened and reviewed the annual report, as required by the
by-laws.”
Cooper then explained that a
representative of Boucher, Morgan and Young had reviewed the report
with the committee, explaining “page by page what it meant.”
“There were no recommendations
necessary,” Cooper said. He added that the audit report was available
for the public to review as well.
Cooper also touched on a few highlights
from the 80th session of the Legislature.
“There were seven new ground water
districts created in Texas,” he said. “We no longer have the monopoly
on the name ‘Trinity.’ There’s now the Upper Trinity GCD, which covers
Montaque, Wise, Parker and Hood counties. There’s also a Northern
Trinity GCD, which is Tarrant County. Tarrant County is a single
county district.”
As reported by Cooper, the other
districts are: Table Rock GCD, which covers Coryell County; McLennen
County GCD; Lavaca County GCD; Colorado County GCD and Panola County
GCD.
“Two of these single county districts --
Table Rock and McLennen -- have special language in their enabling
act,” Cooper said, “that says if they don’t annex an additional
county, or counties, within the next four years, they will be
automatically dissolved.”
Cooper pointed out that now that the
enabling legislation had been passed, an election would still need to
be held in each district.
“And I don’t know which of these are tax
based, and which are fee based,” he said, “but if they’re tax based
that will also have to pass.”
In other business, Board members:
• Approved the minutes from the May
meeting.
• Approved payment of bills.
• Reviewed income/expense comparison,
wherein Cooper noted that the District was balanced to the penny.
Prior to the meeting, nine well
application permits were approved, in a brief permit hearing. Jerry
Fronterhouse, a water well driller, abstained from voting on two of
the well permits. |
