Elk Mound approves annual wage and benefit negotiations
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By LeAnn R. Ralph
ELK MOUND — Wage and benefit negotiations for village employees in Elk Mound will now take place every year.
Prior to this, the Elk Mound Village Board has been negotiating with employees every three years on wages and benefits with scheduled increases for each of the three years.
The end of the three year period is up now, so should the village board negotiate every year, every two years or every three years? asked Terry Stamm, village president, at the Elk Mound Village Board’s August 7 meeting.
Why should it be changed? asked Pat Hahn, village trustee.
If the negotiations on wages and benefits takes place every three years, there is less cost to the village because there are fewer meetings of the employee relations committee, Stamm said.
On the other hand, if inflation is going up or down, then it is not fair to the employees or to the village, he said.
Giving a guaranteed wage increase over three years is “unheard of,” said Tim Benjamin, village trustee.
The negotiations on wages and benefits are typically done annually, and while that does mean more meetings for the employee relations committee, the negotiations should still be done annually, he said.
The Elk Mound Village Board unanimously approved conducting wage and benefit negotiations with village employees on an annual basis.
Employee evaluations
The village board also discussed the process for completing employee performance evaluations.
The employee manual states that an annual performance evaluation does not inherently imply monetary benefits will be adjusted, Stamm noted.
Board members agreed evaluations should be approached as a way for the employee to evaluate his or her performance and to suggest areas for improvements and that the person doing the evaluation should act as a resource for helping the person to improve job performance.
Board members also noted that for some board members who did not have experience, conducting performance evaluations could seem like a difficult task.
The Elk Mound Village Board agreed that the employee relations committee should meet and decide on a process for conducting employee performance evaluations and bring their recommendations to the next village board meeting.
Village Trustee Pat Lien is chair of the employee relations committee, and Village Trustees Cynthia Abraham and Pat Hahn also serve on the committee.
Highway H
During the communications portion of the meeting, one village board member wondered if it would be worthwhile to ask Dunn County about installing caution strips on county Highway H on the north and south side of the village to help drivers realize the speed limit drops from 55 miles per hour to 35 miles per hour.
Any member of the village board or any citizen can contact the Dunn County Highway Department about their concerns, said Chad Weinberger, Elk Mound police chief.
A board resolution asking for the caution strips might be helpful, he said.
Several village board members asked about the cost to the village.
Police Chief Weinberger said he did not believe there would be a cost to the village.
The village’s public works and streets department cannot put in the strips without the county’s blessing, he said.
Stamm said there are other concerns about Highway H, too, and that he would put the issue on the agenda for the next meeting.
Other business
In other business, the Elk Mound Village Board:
• Learned from Police Chief Weinberger that National Night Out on August 1 went well and was well attended.
• Learned that there will be a community blood drive at Shepherd of the Hill Lutheran Church in Elk Mound on August 22 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.and that the community food pantry will be open at the church from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. that day.
• Approved holding the next meeting September 5 since the next regularly-scheduled village board meeting would fall on September 4, Labor Day.
• Approved a bartender operator’s license for Krista Kay Thompson (Pourhouse).
• Approved purchasing a Kenwood Viking multi-band multi-protocol mission critical portable radio from Nielson Communications for $4,383.20, using $3,527.85 from the police radio account and the remaining $855.35 from the police new equipment account.
• Approved purchasing two 10-8 Arsenal body worn cameras with accessories from 10/8 Video for $1,013, to be paid out of the police new equipment account. One village board member asked if the body cameras were replacing existing body cameras. The Elk Mound Police Department has more officers than it has body cameras, Police Chief Weinberger said.
• Agreed to think about dates for the committee budget meetings and be prepared to schedule those meetings in September at the September 5 meeting.
