03 Council Min 09-13-04 - Laserfiche WebLink

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City Council Meeting September 13, 2004 Page 2 COLLEGIATE DRIVE WITHIN THE CITY LIMITS OF PARIS, WAS PRESENTED. Councilman Wilson made a motion to approve the ordinance, which was seconded by Councilman Bell. The motion carried 5 ayes, 0 nays. Mayor Pro Tem Guest opened the Public Hearing regarding proposed amendments to the 2004-2005 City of Paris Budget. Bret Holbert, City of Paris Firefighter and President of the local Firefighters Association, came forward to explain why the sick leave numbers in the Fire Department seemed so high. He said that their sick days are 24 hours, instead of 8 hours as in other departments. He went on to say that a lot of those sick hours were due to long term illnesses. He did say that five firefighters have retired and that has reduced the sick leave noticeably. Mr. Holbert said that sick leave correlates with overtime, because when someone is off on sick leave, someone else has to work overtime. He suggested having an extra man per shift would reduce the amount of overtime used considerably. Sam Owens, City of Paris Policeman and President of the Police Officers Association, came forward and gave the Council a handout. He stated he had heard the Council discussing the budget. He felt by reducing the contribution to the retirement that would reduce the retirement benefits by 25%. He said he didn’t mind having to pay more out of pocket for insurance or driving patrols cars with more mileage, or working in an overcrowded Police Station, or working with less policemen on patrol, but he encouraged the Council not to cut the amount of the contribution to the pension plan. Bill Clark of 4606 Powderly said he was asking for full funding for the lights at the Optimist Baseball Field, which was $16,000.00. He reminded the Council that in the 1980's, they were asked to move the 7, 8 and 9 year olds from Culbertson Park to Woodall Field and the City agreed to help with the