Earlier this week, the Becker City Council held a regular meeting to discuss roads and employee benefits.

Employee Termination

The council began their meeting by moving to a closed session to discuss a complaint about an employee. The council, minus Robin Dingmann, who did not participate in the discussion and abstained from the vote, decided to terminate the employee (Heather Slagle).

Becker Twp. LRIP Grant Support

Becker Twp. asked the city to give support to the township’s application for an LRIP grant. The grant is to make improvements to 97th St. SE. Since this road crosses three jurisdictions, the township desired a demonstration of support from all three while moving forward with the application.

Compensation Study

The city will be undergoing a compensation study. Staff will update job descriptions, implement a new classification system for job positions, work to complete a required pay equity report for 2022, and create an alternative pay structure for part time and seasonal employees, among other potential changes. The city has budgeted $40,000 for this project.

Public Hearing on Street Reconstruction

A public hearing will be held March 2 in regards to adopting a five-year street reconstruction plan and the issuance of $8.6 million to the general obligation street reconstruction bonds. Staff hopes to start moving on these projects quickly to prevent further deterioration of the roads, and have been working on this plan for some time. There will be minimal change to the debt levy to accommodate this plan. Please see next week’s Patriot for an article explaining this project.

Employee Benefits

City council reviewed their policy on donating sick leave. Several employees requested the ability to donate sick leave to another employee experiencing a difficult life change. The policy on sick leave did not allow this, so staff brought the issue before council, who elected to adopt a policy that would allow sick leave to be donated in the case of a “life altering or major life-threatening disease or condition.”

The employee retention group developed a telecommuting policy for employees working from home, which created guidelines for employees. They also created a wellness policy, which created guidelines to help the city create work environments to promote the health and well-being of employees.

Other Business

• The council adopted the City of Becker water supply plan. The DNR informed the city this was a necessary step in the process to create two new municipal wells on recently acquired land.

• The city safety committee developed a policy regarding funding for safety improvement projects.

• City council will eventually be requesting proposals from developers to construct new multi-family and single-family residential units on a 10-acre parcel within the city, next to the golf course and the Becker Community Center.