City employees get 2% pay raise

Marion City Council voted Monday to give nine employees a two percent pay increase for 2013.

Those employees had not received a pay adjustment between 2010 through 2012. The total for those increases was $5,952.

The employees who received raises were: city clerk Angela Lange, office assistant and police secretary Tiffany Jeffrey, street foreman Jeff Harper, street laborer Scott Heidebrecht, water plant operator Ben Box, water plant operator Kevin Kelsey, cemetery sexton Tim Makovec, utility supervisor Marty Frederickson, and refuse truck operator Rick Burcky.

Police

Marion City Council authorized Police Chief Tyler Mermis to use the city’s equipment reserve fund to purchase two used Dodge Chargers to use as patrol cars.

The department would purchase the cars from Bonham Chrysler in Bonham Texas at a total cost of $40,498. In addition to the cost of the vehicles, Mermis requested an additional $16,498 to equip one car with a kennel. The department would also use about $900 from the vehicle inspection fund to equip the cars.

Part of Mermis’ justification for these expenses was an increase in caseload from 2011 to 2012. Mermis said the department worked 738 cases in 2012 and 398 cases in 2011. A case constitutes any time police respond to a complaint, whether it be for dogs at large, a parking complaint, or patrolling for drunk drivers. Mermis did not mention how many cases the department cleared in 2012. The department has five full-time police officers.

Mermis also further discussed placing the Community Corrections Juvenile Intake Office of Marion County to the Marion Police Office. Marion County Juvenile Intake has three officers. Mermis said Community Corrections is losing its office in the old Marion County Jail. The office staying in Marion would keep Marion County Police Departments from transporting juvenile arrests to Junction City.

Codification

The council approved codification of all city ordinances using City Code Financial. The company will place all of the codes in a single book and on the Marion website.

The project will cost $3,500 after the job is completed, plus $1,250 annually to have the codebook updated.

The city also received bids from the League of Kansas Municipalities with a bid of $5,700 and Municode with a bid of $9,950 with a $550 to $700 annual fee.