Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Commission may be abolished

Gurdon's Water and Sewer Commission met Monday night, Feb. 18, at the Gurdon Municipal building with the main topic of discussion being the possible abolishment of the Gurdon Water and Sewer Commission.

At the last Gurdon City Council meeting, the council and Mayor, Clayton Franklin decided to attend the next water and sewer meeting to see what the Commission thought about abolishing the commission or how to obtain better oversight over the department.

When the meeting began, Don Moorehead, water and sewer commissioner asked if Franklin would like to go ahead and address the commission.

Franklin told the commission the reason he and the council were there was because they would like to find out where the commission stood on the council abolishing it. Franklin said the council had discussed this at the last council meeting and felt that maybe the city would be better off if the commission was done away with and the council had control over it.

The council also wanted to try to reconcile everything before a new manager is hired. The last day for applications is February 26, so the council members knew they had to act fast.

After Franklin's question, Moorehead answered, "Well, I'm not sure how we feel. We are not prepared for this tonight."

Franklin then said, "Well we just wanted you guys to know what the council was thinking about. Since the commission was formed by an ordinance, the council has the right to pass a new ordinance abolishing it. We don't want to if we do not have to, but we would like to have a little more oversight on the commission."

Franklin made it clear he had no hard feelings toward Harold Hurst and the council wasn't trying to abolish the commission because of the recent events involving Hurst.

Franklin said the recent events had however brought to the council's attention it had no clue what went on with the water department.

Members of the water commission wanted to know why there was a problem.

Franklin asked, "Do you all have a copy of the Gurdon City Personnel Policy book?"

No one really knew if they did or not. Finally, one commissioner said he thought he had one that Daryl Potratz had given him.

Franklin said, "You all should have one. If you did have one you would have known that the city of Gurdon did not offer comp time'."

Commissioner Glen Hughes said, "Explain comp time'."

Franklin said, "Well with the city of Gurdon we pay overtime, therefore we don't owe anyone for time over their regular hours. Which means no city employee can have comp time. It explains it perfectly in the personnel book and it has been the same policy since 1980."

Franklin said, "I don't have a problem with Harold being paid if he worked for it, but I am concerned that three commissioners signed a form allowing him to be paid through comp time, because they didn't know any better."

Hughes then said, "Well Harold was working from home over the telephone."

Franklin said, "I don't doubt that and I don't have a problem with Harold receiving pay for that. However, it wasn't comp time as comp time is explained in the personnel book."

Hughes said he didn't remember signing anything about comp time, but he did agree Harold should be paid during his time off.

Council member Karen Parker asked Hughes, "Do you make a habit of signing forms before reading them, because I have a copy of the document right here and your name is on it. It specifically states that Harold would be drawing comp time pay."

Franklin asked, "What exactly does the water commission do for the city of Gurdon?" No one could answer.

Then Franklin asked, "What is your job description as water commissioners?"

The room was silent. Finally Moorehead said, "We try to better the water for Gurdon."

"How?", Franklin asked.

Commissioner Jim Hatley said, "What do you want us to do, help Ben fix leaks?"

Franklin said, "No, but how do you make it better if you don't know what's going on as far as leaks and problems of that nature?"

Moorehead said, "If the budget stays for the water department and no one on the staff loses their jobs, then I am all for doing away with the commission as long as it is best for the city."

Franklin said, "I don't know until we try it if it will be better, but maybe we need a change. The council just needs more oversight in order to better serve the city."

Moorehead said he didn't think the commission and the city council should meet separately.

Franklin said, "This was a head's up meeting and now we all know what everyone is thinking. I appreciate having the opportunity to speak with you."

The council is looking into more information on the topic and plans to have a department head meeting soon to see where they all stand. The council expects to have a decision by the next council meeting.