Council adopts ordinance setting pay and expense rules for municipal electric utility mutual aid

Columbia City’s Common Council on June 24 adopted Ordinance 2025-7, which sets rates of pay and expense rules for employees of the Columbia City Municipal Electric Utility when they respond to mutual-aid requests from other communities.

The ordinance “puts it in writing to compensate us, probably more fairly than what we had before,” Mayor (unnamed) said during council discussion, describing how utility crews may be sent to help other towns after disasters such as tornadoes.

Why it matters: The ordinance creates written compensation procedures for city utility staff who assist other jurisdictions following infrastructure damage or severe weather, ensuring pay and expenses are addressed when crews are deployed.

Council discussion and action Council briefly reviewed the ordinance, which council members said formalizes compensation and expense handling when city utility personnel are assigned to outside responses. A motion to accept Ordinance 2025-7 on second reading was moved and seconded; the council approved the measure unanimously.

Implementation and scope The ordinance is intended to cover pay and expense reimbursement when municipal electric utility workers render mutual aid to other communities following events such as tornadoes or storms. No specific numeric pay rates were included in the meeting discussion; the council discussed the policy-level intent to ensure fair compensation and established procedures.

Next steps: The ordinance was adopted on second reading and is now part of city code; staff will follow the ordinance when coordinating mutual-aid deployments and reimbursements.