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Council questions loyalty pay issue

WEIRTON — A question involving longevity pay for city employees was raised during Monday’s meeting of Weirton Council, with the new city manager saying he will look into the issue.

At the conclusion of business Monday, Ward 4 Councilman George Ash asked about longevity pay for the city’s general fund employees, which provides a monthly bonus based upon their years of employment.

Ash said it was his understanding the payments no longer were being made to employees.

Finance Director Diana Smoljanovich informed council she was sent a memorandum in June 2017 by former City Manager Travis Blosser, allegedly saying to cancel the bonus.

Ash took issue with that, saying any budgetary decision is supposed to be made by council.

“Unless it comes before this council, he has not right to do that,” Ash said.

Joe DiBartolomeo, appointed as the new city manager during Monday’s meeting, said he would meet with Smoljanovich to investigate the issue and make any needed corrections.

“We’ll do the recalculations and see what needs to be done,” DiBartolomeo said.

In other financial news, council voted 6-0 to authorize revisions to the 2018-2019 fiscal year general fund budget. Much of the revision involved a $2.6 million carryover from the previous fiscal year.

Prior to the vote, Ward 5 Councilman Douglas Jackson moved to amend the resolution to move $250,000 into the city’s Rainy Day fund.

“One of the things we want to do is stabilize the city as well as the funds,” Jackson said.

Jackson said council has provided additional funds toward pensions, street paving and other services, but done little to save money for emergency situations.

“We’re not where we need to be, but we’ve made significant steps from where we were three years ago,” Jackson said.

Council also approved, 6-0, the purchase of three vehicles for use by city departments.

Among the purchases were:

• A Caterpillar 926 front end loader for the Street Department at Public Works, at a cost of $161,300

• A Caterpillar 304E2 mini excavator for the Street Department at Public Works, at a cost of $59,680

• A 2013 fully equipped Ford F-150 4×4 truck for the Weirton Police Department, at a cost of $20,000

(Howell can be contacted at chowell@weirtondailytimes.com, and followed via Twitter @CHowellWDT)

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