The Martin County Council held its last special council meeting of 2024 on Monday, December 30.
The city council was set to approve claims and allowances before starting in 2025.
The board also attempted to clarify the hiring status for a full-time or part-time emergency service dispatcher position, which caused the board to feel confused for a bit.
The emergency dispatcher position is full-time, which was clarified at the meeting with Mayor Brian Ader. A formal request must not be made before the fiscal year 2025.
The board also confirms that the position is budgeted and approved for the current fiscal year.”
They also reiterated the need for an official decision on the dispatcher’s full-time status “to avoid confusion.”
The board is also discussing finalizing the approval to allow all city employees, including fire, police, and Emergency Medical Team members, to have gym memberships, including whether the gym memberships should be available to the council or full-time board members.
At first, the gallery was confused about approving the gym memberships for council members. Loogootee Mayor Brian Ader and his team helped clarify that the memberships are intended for employees “with a 50/50 cost-sharing arrangement.”
Another board member reiterated the 50/50 split and then confirmed that the memberships would be for employees only and not for anyone else.
The city also approved a $125,875 pay application for the Country Club Park Pavilion Project, with $121,920.60 reimbursed for the project the city agreed.
One board member also addressed how the group will further discuss the impact of weather delays on the project timeline in which the board attempted to try and take safety into account before approving the passed motion.
“A motion is made and seconded to approve the additional appropriation for the project,” the board clarified.
The board also wanted to clarify this topic by mentioning the appropriation requests needed for the project. These included shifting funds within budgets and additional appropriations totaling $120,000, with specific allocations for various projects, such as concrete replacement, pool donations, and new equipment for fire and police departments.
The meeting concluded by discussing the necassary need to use the associated APRA funds to help with city projects and other city activities.
The use of the APRA, American Rescue Plan Act funds, became a hot topic during the city’s Christmas celebration. The city used some funds to light the first large Christmas tree downtown, fund skating nights, and fund other Christmas activities throughout the holiday season.
This sparked outrage throughout the community, but Mayor Ader and the city council clarified that money was still left for business/rescue purposes. The $38,000 used for the city’s Christmas celebrations did not wash out all APRA funds.
The board said that the city had around $290,926 in ARPA funds to spend and had already earmarked $85,926 for various purposes.
The city board wanted to make some room for providing a detailed list of how the remaining ARPA funds, which the city has held onto around $205,000, were proposed to be spent for various city-wide projects.
The $205,000 will help pay for replacing concrete at the fire station, making a donation to the pool, purchasing new AEDs and teasers for the fire and police departments, and for other miscellaneous expenses, later approved by the board voting in favor.
The meeting concluded with motions to approve these expenditures and adjourn.
The meeting can be viewed on the City of Loogootee YouTube channel, which can be accessed by clicking on the highlighted link.