Council OKs pay

raise for non-union

city employees

Benefits offered

to part-timers

By CHRIS VETTER

Journal Staff Writer

NEW ULM -- Non-unionized city part- and full-time employees will receive a pay hike and added benefits this year.

Full-time employees will see a 3.7 percent overall increase for 2001, which includes wages, Social Security, Medicare and life insurance.

And part-time employees will now be eligible for benefits, such as life and health insurance and holiday pay.

The New Ulm City Council unanimously approved the pay hike for non-unionized city employees Tuesday night. The benefit package could cost the city as much as $87,000 for 2001.

Under the plan, part-time staff would receive up to $30,700 in new benefits, while the city's cost for full-time employees increases by $56,200.

City Manager Dick Salvati said it is unclear how many part-time city employees will sign up for the health insurance plan. Salvati estimates that it would cost the city $25,700 if all part-time employees pick up the plan.

"We calculated at the maximum possible cost," Salvati said. "Obviously, not everyone will take it."

For instance, a city employee might be covered under a spouse's health insurance plan and choose to not pick up the city plan, Salvati said.

Part-time employees who have worked for the city at least six months and average 20 hours of work per week will be eligible for the benefits.

Life insurance for part-time employees is expected to cost the city $878 while holiday pay will cost the city $4,108, according to a city report.

Salvati said the city felt pressure to add benefits for part-time workers from unions and by a tight labor market.

"There has been increased market demand locally for people who work part-time jobs," Salvati said. "I think it's a step that's important. We've had some turnover that is a problem for us."

Part-time, non-unionized city staff include library workers and housing service employees, Salvati said.

Unionized city staff include law enforcement, the park/street department and utility employees, Salvati said.

The city manager has latitude to decide hourly wages for temporary, part-time and seasonal employees.

In other business, Salvati and councilors Dan Beranek and Joel Albrecht will meet with Kevin Schieffer, president of Dakota, Minnesota & Eastern railroad on Thursday.

Schieffer is expected to talk with city staff for about an hour in a closed-door meeting about possible alternate locations for a staging yard, which is currently planned to be built along Shag Road, southeast of town.

Councilors have suggested moving the staging yard west of town, between New Ulm and Essig. Meanwhile, county commissioners are trying to eliminate the Shag Road site, asking federal authorities to place the staging yard closer to Mankato.

Beranek said the city has some concerns about the speed of trains and how long roads would be blocked as the locomotives move through town.

In one final note, the councilors unanimously approved a resolution for construction projects to be completed this year. The project list includes a new soccer field north of Mueller Ballpark, a new parking lot at the ball diamond, and a dozen sewer, road and waterline repairs. A public hearing on the project list has been set for March 6.

City engineer Steve Koehler said work on the new soccer field would likely begin in July as the site is graded and water runoff lines are installed.

It is still unclear if the field would be done before the soccer fields used at Martin Luther College are closed to make way for a new chapel.