Following safety concerns which turned up during a recent inspection, Babbitt will remove a slide and a climber from the beach, and will look at quotes for fixing the swing set.
Both the swing set and the climber require a border with a soft fill, such as woodchips. The swings also need new hangers. These issues impact the three independent pieces of equipment at the beach, rather than the main playground at that location.
“I think they should all be pulled now,” said Recreation Director Caitlin Stern. “So either we remove them, come back to you with a quote for the border and the fill, or come back with a quote for something else to replace it.”
“If it’s been flagged as a safety concern and the city is aware of it and does nothing to remove that, then you’re going to open yourself to liability if someone gets hurt on it,” said city attorney Joel Lewicki.
On a brighter note for Babbitt’s playgrounds, the city council on Tuesday accepted a $3,850 quote from Flagship Recreation for equipment installation at the ball field park and swings at the beach park — not related to the swings which turned up safety concerns. The expense can be covered by a donation from Pulsar Helium for $5,000 toward the playground budget. The council also accepted a donation from the Babbitt Lions Club for $47,967.16 for equipment costs.
“It’s amazing. The Lions are wonderful,” said mayor Andrea Zupancich.
In addition, the council began discussions on the possibility of adopting a more flexible pay schedule for council members, which would allow the monthly salary to be temporarily reduced for council members who do not maintain consistent attendance at meetings.
“There was a written complaint in regards to council people not attending meetings. And I get it. Council has things that come up and they’re not able to make every meeting,” said Zupancich. However, she said, “We had some issues in the beginning too with voting and having to table things for the next meeting.”
Although there are not any legal statutes or requirements for a council member to attend every meeting, said Zupancich, there should be clarification on consequences, especially when absences become excessive.
Current pay is issued as a once-per-month stipend, rather than at an hourly rate. Zupancich suggested a policy in which - if a council person were to miss four or five consecutive meetings - they would receive half their stipend for the month.
“I have a hard time paying everybody equally,” said deputy clerk Sara Powell, citing in particular council member Joe White’s absence until the fall. Powell mentioned that White had received information on his absences via email.
“You guys have been quite busy all summer. I know there were lots of extra meetings. And nobody gets paid for the extra meetings, either,” said Powell.
Powell urged the council to maintain open communication.
“Just talk with him and say, We understand this circumstance came up. Can we come up with this policy for you for the rest of your term to modify your pay? Are you willing to accept less?” asked Powell.
Official salary adjustments cannot take effect until the next municipal election. However, said Lewicki, temporary reductions may be put into place.
“It’s an awkward thing,” said Zupancich, “Things happen. I get it.”
As the Babbitt Ambulance Department continues to search for ways to boost participation in order to fulfill the requirement of 24/7 coverage of on-call shifts, 365 days per year, Babbitt Ambulance Supervisor Emily Jaeger proposed a policy requiring each EMS member to fulfill 36 on-call hours per month.
Although the policy is still in the works, she preliminarily suggests that staff members should strive for at least 75% compliance.
“They can miss three months, but as soon as you hit month four, okay, we have an issue, you’re not meeting your minimums. What can we do to fix this and get you more engaged?” Jaeger said.
“I wanted to put a little bit of grace into there,” said Jaeger, “But, if all of a sudden we haven’t seen them for seven, eight months doing any on-call shifts, we want to see them become more active and be a participating factor in the service.”
The council tabled the policy for a later meeting, in need of further clarification on the specifics of how compliance will be counted.
In other business, the council:
• Passed a motion to re-home the Red Pine Disc Golf Course to a parcel behind its current location;
• Opened a vacant position at the Teen Center;
• Waived the senior rental center fee for the Lions Club on Aug. 9;
• Rehired Dana Morgan to the ambulance department;
• Waived the gym, kitchen, senior center, table, and chair rental fees for the Friends of the Library on Oct. 10-11;
• Accepted East Mesabi Sanitation as the provider for City Clean Up Day on Sept. 20.
