Frustration remains among Dayton City Council members

DAYTON—The Dayton City Council human resources and financial committees met Monday, August 9 for a work session. Due to the nature of the meeting, no action was taken on any agenda item. The council will meet for a regular monthly meeting on August 11, at 6 p.m.

Frustration was a shared feeling across the attendees, as requests for specific financial paperwork have continued to go unfulfilled.

Council members said that they have been requesting clear, concise line items regarding salaries for city employee positions for years. After the sudden firing of three city positions earlier this year, the frustration was heightened yet again as council members do not feel comfortable accepting recommendations to fill the now-vacant positions without a thorough understanding of salaries and how they are paid.

During the work session on Monday, council member Delphine Bailey expressed that the Budgeting, Accounting and Reporting System (BARS) , currently used by the City of Dayton, is difficult to read, even with years of experience.

“A line item would make it clearer for the whole council to look at it, and say ‘this is where we are at, this is what we’ve got, this is what we can do,’” said Bailey. “It makes it very difficult to make a decision.”

The termination of the three senior employees has cost the City of Dayton nearly $220,000 in severance packages alone. An interlocal agreement with Columbia County to help bridge staffing gaps has procured additional costs for the city.

One option that the city had explored, according to Mayor Pro Tem Dain Nysoe, was hiring a Chief Financial Officer to handle and maintain the budget, format the budget so that it was easily understood, and other financial responsibilities, in lieu of a city clerk. Bailey added that contracting with a company had also been discussed. Deb Hayes, Deputy City Clerk, shared that she had researched CFO contracts and had found two individuals in the area. Both individuals were committed for two years to other contracts. The least of the charges, Hayes explained, started at $162.00 per hour for a contract.

Bailey also expressed concerns with a statement that was made ‘a few months ago,’ claiming that the City of Dayton was in ‘dire straits,’ and the 12% utility tax increase would be ‘just enough to get them through December.’

“Now, all of the sudden, we are being told that we are okay financially and we can go ahead and hire people? I don’t understand how that works,” she said.

Hayes tried to offer clarification, explaining that the city administrator had prepared the budget for the ‘worse case scenario.’

“Meaning, this was the high-end of the scale, the high-end of the pay, the high-end of the budget for insurance,” Hayes said, explaining what was shared with her a couple of years ago. “It was explained to me that there was room in salaries and benefits to move that money into a separate salaries and benefits category.”

Hayes offered to research the information and report back to the council at a later time.

Misty Yost led discussions about the proposed job descriptions for the City Clerk, Public Works Superintendent and Assistant Superintendent, and Building & Planning Director Associate. Upon review, council members had some questions about certain job duties, and various verbiage, but did not feel comfortable moving forward with the search until salary concerns were addressed and fully understood. According to the agenda packet released on August 9, the council is anticipating receiving recommendations for the Interim City Clerk and Interim Assistant Public Works Director.