Town Council 06-20-2023 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Councilman Brown made a motion to close the public hearing. Councilman Swinney seconded. Motion Carried 4-0. Councilman Swinney made a motion to approve Confirmatory Resolution 2023-15. Councilman Brown seconded. Motion Carried 4-0. New Business — Park Superintendent Phil Cornelius presented the need for a replacement on the 11' deck John Deere mower as it is consistently under repair or not in working order. The John Deere replacement of the 11' deck is $74,992.92, The replacement of a 6' deck John Deere would be $48,007.65. The zero -turn replacements would be $18,355.26 or $26,087.68 for the upgraded industrial model. The total for all replacements would be $141,355.83. After reviewing other brands, the Park Department wants to move forward with the Grasshopper brand of mowers from Tom Woods. This mower package would include two 6' front deck mowers for $21,873.95 each and a mid -deck mower for $18,580.90. The total replacement cost is $62,328.80. This total is only $2,232.80 over the budgeted $60,000. There was some discussion of trade in values. Reynolds has a trade-in value of all three mowers of $22,500, an outright purchase cost of the three mowers would be $16,000. The mowers would have to be declared surplus and be put up for auction if they are not traded in. There was a discussion of the warranty for the Grasshopper mowers. The total cost for the three mowers after trade-in would be $46,328.80 with a 4 -week turnaround time. There was some additional discussion about comparative models between the two brands. Councilman Williams made a motion to allocate a sum not to exceed $47,000 from the Food and Beverage fund to purchase the new mowers. Councilman Brown seconded. Motion Carried 4-0. Town Event Coordinator Mike Constable came before the council to present a petition signed by local business owners to bring in Regina Shelby as an employee to support the town as the event coordinator. Regina Shelby presented additional events that she has been coordinating on her own and explained her vision for this position to be self-sustaining, as well as the plan to include notjust downtown businesses but all businesses in Mooresville. Councilman Brown mentioned the possibility of a similar position being available within the Parks Department. Regina Shelby stated that she would like the ability to utilize not only the Parks Department resources but the resources of the entire town. Town Attorney Lee described the steps that would need to be taken to create this position within the town or as an independent contractor position. Department Head Reports — Lateral Firefighter Proposal — Assistant Chief Russell presented the benefits and financial impact of implementing the lateral transfer firefighter position. The proposal received support from the entire department. Councilman Warthen raised concerns regarding Fire Department employees' salary ordinance and probationary pay. Currently, the difference between a regular firefighter and a probationary firefighter is $2,995.20, whereas, for the police department, the difference is $988.40 between a regular patrolman and a probationary patrolman. Councilman Warthen expressed the opinion that the probationary pay for firefighters should be adjusted to align more closely with that of the police department.