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Newell council raises golf-course contract pay, budgets for police and pool site work
Summary
At a Jan. 7 special session, the Newell City Council voted to raise golf-course contract employee pay from 3% to 4.25%, agreed preliminary budget figures including $95,000 for law enforcement and roughly $50,000 for pool/park site work, and set a Jan. 21 follow-up budget session.
The Newell City Council on Jan. 7 approved a pay increase for golf-course contract employees and set preliminary budget amounts for law enforcement and work at the former pool site.
Larry Nielsen moved to increase contract employees’ raises from 3% to 4.25%; Bill Henrich seconded and the motion passed with the vote recorded as “all ayes.” The council’s action on the raises was recorded during the consent-agenda portion of the special session.
Why it matters: the pay change aligns contract employees more closely with regular staff raises and affects the municipal payroll baseline used in the upcoming budget. Council members said the change was intended to keep contract pay consistent with other staff increases.
During a budget review the council agreed to budget $95,000 for the law enforcement contract, noting the contract itself is set at $92,700 for the coming year; the additional amount is intended to cover incidental costs. The transcript records council agreement but does not include formal motion language or a roll-call on that allocation.
Council also agreed to add roughly $50,000 under pool/park building repair to cover demolition and site work for the former pool; members said more detailed discussion will occur when the pool committee attends a future meeting.
Library Director Tanya Landgraf presented the library budget during the session, saying about 54% of the library’s funding comes from the City, with the remainder from county sources, local option sales tax, state aid, donations and restricted capital funds. She told the council a possible future remodel to add a small multi-use room is being explored but not committed.
Council scheduled a follow-up budget work session for Jan. 21 at 5:00 p.m. at City Hall (hard stop 6:30 p.m.). Public forum opened and closed at 6:26 p.m. with no public comments recorded. The council adjourned at 6:30 p.m.
Notes on sourcing and procedure: motions on the agenda and the raises were recorded as “all ayes” in the transcript. Vote counts in this article reflect the presence of the mayor and five council members as listed in the meeting attendance; the transcript does not provide a per-member roll-call tally for every item.
