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News
By Quinn Illi
CRYSTAL FALLS — The Iron County Board of Commissioners ultimately approved a request for financial incentives to overtime employees, after some debate at the board’s June 12 general meeting.
Central Dispatch put in a request to give out a shift incentive of $50 per each overtime shift taken by its full-time employees. Central Dispatch currently finds itself short two full-time and two part-time positions.
Commissioner Jacob Conery then voiced his concerns: “[The staffing shortage] is the bigger issue because, we can’t have a shift incentive forever.”
Discussion followed about personal time-off requests being denied in the near future, the training process requiring 12 weeks, as well as the administrative director working full-time dissipating hours in addition to her administrative duties.
While there are currently no new hires in training, Conery suggested Central Dispatch “fast track the training process and bring [trainees] up to speed.” He made a motion to table the matter until the board receives more specific information.
The motion then died due to a lack of support by other Commissioners and was replaced by a motion to offer the incentive to full-time employees to work extra shifts starting June 24, when one of their dispatchers is retiring, and continuing until Central Dispatch has filled all of their full-time positions. This motion was approved unanimously.
In another financial request, the Iron County Youth Camp (Camp Batawagama) requested the limit for the department credit card be raised from $7,500 to $12,000 for the ordering of supplies to get camp ready for the season. No one from the camp was present at the meeting, and Board Chair Mark Stauber raised some concern.
“I was just curious why they don’t just have the vendors set up,” he said. “With purchase orders, and so forth so on, a lot better record-keeping for our audits too… Myself, I know, for traceability reasons [setting up vendors] is a lot better way to go.”
It was then unanimously decided by the board that the matter would be tabled until concerns were addressed.
Stauber also shared with attendees information he received from the Dickinson-Iron District Health Department regarding the Lone Star Tick. Its bites can cause people to become allergic to red meat. DIDHD does offer a free tick identification service to all Michigan citizens, either by photo or mail. More information is available at didhd.org/media-releases and selecting the Tick Identification PDF.
The Iron County Board of Commissioners also addressed the following matters at its June 12 meeting:
• The Iron County Road Commission is experiencing an increase in problems relating to beavers and their dams.
• The Iron County Medical Care Facility is training new CNAs and the new Medical Director is settling in but problems regarding the building itself are an issue for the near future.
• The Iron County Housing Commission received a letter of support from the Board in regards to future maintenance projects on their property.
• The Board wrote letters of support for a bike path in Crystal Falls, the Apple Blossom Trail Boardwalk in Iron River, and a walking trail and fishing pier in Caspian.
The Iron County Board of Commissioners meets the second Tuesday of each month at 4 p.m. in the Iron County Courthouse. The next meeting will be held on July 9. More information is available at ironmi.org.