(Spirit Lake)– The Spirit Lake city council Tuesday heard a request from City Administrator Mark Stevens for a hiring moratorium to be lifted so a vacant equipment operator position could be filled.
In a memo, Stevens told the council not filling the position would have “a noticeable imapct on the city’s ability to respond to snow emergencies and other events”.
Stevens added he plans to fill the position internally, most likely with someone from the city’s solid waste crew.
That drew concern from councilman Jerry Harbst, who said he wants to make sure the city is hiring the most qualified people to drive snowplows and operate heavy equipment. Harbst referred to some areas of the city where he says streets have been narrowed because they weren’t cleared curb-to-curb.
Stevens said the person being considered IS properly qualified, adding he wouldn’t hire anyone that wasn’t.
Following some additional discussion, the council voted unanimously to relax the hiring moratorium for this particular situation only.
In other business, the council approved an engineering agreement for a low impact development project where 9th Street dead-ends at East Lake Okoboji. The project has an estimated cost of $66,000. Half of that will be covered by a grant that’s been awarded to the East Okoboji Lake Improvement Corporation. Public Works Director Dwight Dohlman told the council a bidletting on the project is scheduled for the first quarter of this year with construction in the spring.
