FINANCIAL MATTERS — Approval of longevity pay for village employees was among matters before Wintersville Council on Thursday. -- Warren Scott

WINTERSVILLE — An increase in longevity pay for hourly village personnel was among matters before Wintersville Council on Thursday.

Council approved an ordinance raising hourly wages for the staff according to four tiers of time served.

The change, from a 5 cent per hour annual raise, involves staff receiving a 15-cent-per-hour raise after their first three years, 90-cents-per-hour raise for the next three years and 40 cents per hour raise for the next two years.

After their 11th year with the village, staff will be paid $2.55 per hour more than their starting wages, which vary among the positions.

The raises are pending positive performance reviews by their supervisors.

They are expected to require $14,000 to $17,000 in the village’s yearly budget but are aimed at retaining experienced, trained workers.

Village Administrator Jesse Kosegi said the raises offer an incentive for employees to stay with the village, noting staff with commercial driver’s licenses, especially, could be tempted to move to jobs with higer pay in the private sector.

In related business, Mayor Mike Petrella introduced Trish Proffitt, the village’s new, full-time fiscal officer.

A native of Colorado and an Air Force veteran, Proffitt earned a degree in accounting from Mount Olive College in North Carolina and has more than 20 years’ experience in that field.

She has lived for many years in Richmond.

Council recently agreed to make the position a full-time one, noting previous part-time fiscal officers have left for other jobs and duties that may be performed by that official.

In other business:

• Kosegi said he and staff have been working to address a discrepancy between readings recorded by the village’s new water meters and the figures shown by the village’s current software.

Village crews and independent contractors have installed about 1,900 of the meters, which are designed to transmit electronic readings to the municipal building to save the village time and wages involved in reading them manually.

Kosegi suspects the discrepancies won’t occur with new software to be implemented in the near future, and its vendor is slated to be on hand when the change is made.

In related business, Kosegi said about 30 residential customers haven’t made arrangements for their indoor meters to be replaced.

He said since various efforts have been made to contact them, those customers face having their service shut off and being charged a $50 reconnection fee if they don’t cooperate.

Arrangements to have the meters replaced can be made by calling (740) 266-3175.

• Councilman Carmen DeStefano asked if American Electric Power still plans to replace lights in local streetlights with LEDs and was told that’s been delayed.

Petrella said he has been reporting to the utility lights that need to be replaced.

Kosegi said he’s also asked AEP to replace the lights along the section of Cadiz Road that’s slated to undergo paving later this year.

He said it would help to improve safety as crews set about not only repaving the road between the Wintersville Kroger and Park Drive but also replacing a mile-long section of water line and sections of sidewalk along both sides while creating handicap-accessible curbs for the walkways.

• Council members approved a dress code for themselves and future members presented by Petrella.

The code prohibits casual wear, such as hooded sweatsuits or T-shirts, while requiring council members to dress in a minimum of business casual, such as polo shirts and slacks.

Petrella said the current council’s dress hasn’t been an issue but he felt a standard should be set for present and future members.

Council’s next regular meeting will be held at 7 p.m. March 5 in the Municipal Building on Grove Street.