Two bills were approved at Monday night's Jefferson City Council meeting aimed at helping the city retain and attract employees.
One measure was adding Juneteenth as a paid holiday for city staff.
The Juneteenth celebration is a holiday which honors June 19, 1865, the day when Maj. Gen. Gordon Granger arrived in Texas to announce the Emancipation Proclamation, which President Abraham Lincoln had signed 2½ years earlier.
In June 2021, President Joe Biden signed legislation that establishes Juneteenth as a federal holiday.
Missouri made June 19 a state holiday, known as Emancipation Day, in 2003.
Cole County government also recognizes the Juneteenth Holiday as does Lincoln University.
Currently the state and LU have 13 paid holidays for their employees while Cole County has 12.
With the council action Monday night, Jefferson City has 11 plus a floating holiday that may be approved by the City Council. If it is approved, then it is added on at the beginning of the city's fiscal year, Nov. 1.
City Human Resources Director Gail Strope told council members the cost for adding Juneteenth would be more than $79,000 with the majority of that amount going to pay the police and fire personnel who work that holiday. That figure was based on an eight-hour work day and current staffing and pay levels.
The bill was earlier amended so that funding would not come from the Public Safety Tax Fund, but only from the General Fund to pay the costs to add the holiday.
The second employee related measure approved was a plan to increase pay for police officers as part of a labor agreement between the city and the Fraternal Order of Police, Missouri, Lodge No. 19 (FOP).
After voters approved a Public Safety Sales Tax in November, the council directed city staff to negotiate with the FOP. The agreement would go into affect July 10 and would be in place for three years.
A starting police officer salary would go from $41,975 to $46,000. This does not include benefits. At last month's public safety committee meeting, police officials said they were trying to fill 13 officer positions and six communications positions.
The council did table a bill that would authorize a 5 percent salary increase for all city employees, with the exception of police FOP members and the city administrator.
The proposed salary adjustment would implement an increase for full-time employees and part-time employees with benefits.
City Administrator Steve Crowell said it would cost $488,842 to implement the plan for the remainder of the city's current fiscal year. On annual basis, it would cost the city $1,146,087, based on FY22 costs.
Ward 3 Councilwoman Erin Wiseman sponsors this bill and asked it be tabled as she and other council members had a few ideas to try and improve the measure. She believed they would be ready to take up the bill at the next council meeting on June 20.
Also approved Monday night was a resolution supporting the potential development of a nearly $20 million facility on the Missouri State Penitentiary grounds.
The plan for constructing a three-story, 50,000 square-foot building involves a collaboration between the Missouri Primary Care Association (MPCA) and Missouri Behavioral Health Council (MBHC) to provide space for offices, technical training and a conference center.
The resolution authorizes city staff to continue negotiating a deal involving MPCA, MBHC and the city, which gained ownership of 32 acres of land where the historic prison is located.
The Missouri Primary Care Association is a nonprofit organization seeking to provide affordable and quality health care, while the Missouri Behavioral Health Council, oversees support for community mental health centers and substance use treatment providers in the state.
To pay for the building, deemed the Center for Excellence, the two associations applied for $12 million in federal funding from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and would also use combined funds of up to $8 million. Pierle said the proposal for the new facility has been under development for around two years. The associations have worked on design plans with Arcturis, a St. Louis architectural firm.
The design of the facility is proposed as a steel-framed structure, with light-colored brick masonry, similar in color to its historical structures nearby on the MSP site.
The city anticipates requiring up to $350,000 in total assessment from the two associations to pay for the purchase or longterm lease of the land, according to Monday's resolution. City Attorney Ryan Moehlman said the money may help pay for structural elements that go along with the building, such as roads, sidewalks, streetlights and landscaping.
Also Monday night, Ward 1 Councilman Jack Deeken and Ward 3 Councilman Scott Spencer expressed concerns about the process for a new police chief.
The second round of interviews to fill the job has been taking place during the past couple of weeks. There were 19 applicants for the job. Chief Roger Schroeder announced he would retire earlier this year, but would stay on until a new chief was put in place.
In addition to City Administrator Crowell, Human Resources Director Strope, City Attorney Moehlman and NAACP President Rod Chapel, the second committee members are: Mayor Carrie Tergin; council members Laura Ward, Mark Schreiber and Dave Kemna; Cole County Prosecuting Attorney Locke Thompson; Paul Dupuis, police personnel board member; and Fire Chief Matt Schofield.
Deeken brought up concerns he raised at a council meeting last month that more officials connected with law enforcement were not appointed to this second committee. Spencer raised concerns about consistency in making sure minutes are taken at these meetings after finding out that they hadn't been at earlier meetings.
Per the city's charter, the city administrator makes a recommendation to the mayor and City Council for the approval of department directors.
As far as when a final recommendation could go to the council, Crowell has said he did not know the timeframe for a recommendation to the council.
Other council business:
Jefferson City Council votes to expand mural placement in city code