MANSFIELD — City Council on Tuesday approved $1,090,000 in American Rescue Plan Act expenditures on Tuesday, including $600,000 in “premium payments” for city workers represented by AFSCME 3088.
The “premium payments” for AFSCME workers actually totaled $998,000, according to council Finance Committee Chairman Alomar Davenport.
With ARPA covering two thirds of the cost, the remaining $388,000 will come from the city’s water and sewer funds.
Each member of the union will receive $6,500 in the one-time bonus payments, similar to what has been awarded in the past two years to members of the police and fire unions, based on an independent arbitrator’s decision.
The same arbitrator, however, also ruled that AFSCME members are not entitled to an additional 4.2 percent pay increase.
The union claimed in 2022 its members were entitled to the increase due to the “me too” clause included in the three-year deal it struck with the city in 2021.
The union made the claim after police union members received a 7.75 percent wage increase in March 2022.
Members of the AFSCME Local 3088 include many of the “general laborers” that make the city run behind the scenes.
They include motor equipment operators at the water and wastewater treatment plants; community development workers; snow plow operators; utility collectors; police records clerks and 9-1-1 communications workers; court clerks; water meter installers; Mansfield Lahm Regional Airport employees; maintenance workers; Clear Fork reservoir workers and employees at the parks department.
Public Works Director Dave Remy said the “premium payments” would be made in one lump sum during 2023, rather than splitting into payments that would extend into 2024.
“We are working on making it one payment and getting it out of the way,” he said, referencing the fact a new mayor and administration will take office in January.
Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 32 members received $6,500 bonuses in 2022 and International Association of Firefighters Local 266 received $6,000 bonus payments earlier this year.
Non-bargaining city employees received $4,000 bonus payments earlier in 2023, also.
All of those payments came from the city’s share of ARPA funds.
Other ARPA allocations approved by City Council on Tuesday were $400,000 for renovation of the municipal building HVAC system; $48,000 for a garbage can curb tender for use at the Clearfork Reservoir; and $42,000 for a water department tractor and mower deck.
With those decisions, the city has allocated all but about $614,000 of the $21 million it received in ARPA allocations in 2021 during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Also on Tuesday, City Council:
— approved a resolution of consent for a planned $31.9 million ODOT contract to completely reconstruct Ohio 13 on the city’s south side.
— approved an ordinance expressing approval and support of the city’s Office of Community Development’s Consolidated Annual Performance Evaluation Report for program year 20222 — July 1, 2022, through June 30, 2023.
— approved acceptance of a $1,2000 grant from the Ohio Division of Emergency Medical Services for the purchase of EMS equipment.
— approved acceptance of a $250,000 grant from the U.S. Dept. of Justice DNA Capacity Enhancement Backlog Reduction Program to be used in the Mansfield Police Department crime lab.
— approved the city seeking a contract for the retail purchase of gas and diesel fuel for the Mansfield Fire Department.
— approved seeking a contract for engineering and planning services to improve Mansfield Lahm Regional Airport.
— discussed legislation to amend the city’s ordinances that would increase the “threshold for competitive bidding, thereby maintaining consistency with the Ohio Revised Code.” The current threshold requiring competitive bids is $50,000. The proposed change would increase that to $75,000. No vote was taken.
— voted to vacate an unnamed alley between Bowman and Springmill streets as requested by the North End Community Improvement Collaborative.
— approved a consent resolution allowing ODOT to perform bridge rehabilitation on a bridge on U.S. 30 at Home road that was struck by a vehicle.
