Fourth applicant for city water position appears at Monday meeting

Age came up as an unspoken factor in who to hire for water operator recently after a man who happened to be the fourth applicant showed up at the Monday Council meeting to ask questions.

“I read in the paper that the other two applicants had drywall experience,” a man who applied for water operator said of two that were interviewed but not hired, adding, “That’s not me.” Wanting to know what happened to his application and why it wasn’t considered, the man named “Ed” was told by Stanley Mayor Al Haas that the City was looking for someone to fill the position “for a number of years.” The man, with signs of age

like gray hair, had applied for the position of water operator with qualifications including but not limited to a CDL license.

As to initial reports that there were only three applicants, City Clerk Nicole Thiel said that while she had said “three” for applicants in a city meeting, she had meant to say “three additional.” Upon review by the city personnel committee three out of the total four applicants had gone on to the interview stage, whereas the man had not. The issue was brought to light during a series of questions by council member Jason Meyer, who said he had heard "conflicting stories as to the number of applicants for the position. In fact, Meyer had a host of questions that he aired during the time devoted to concerns of the public, including a check to make sure that two city employees said to be recently injured were getting their medical expenses paid for.

“It’s all going through workmen’s comp as far as I know,” Clerk Thiel stated at Monday’s meeting.

Meanwhile, Meyer also made the request that quarterly finan cial statements be made available for review as well as asking if those charged with preparing property tax matters were skilled at figuring out the mill rate.

Told that it was a state matter decided by worksheet, he was less than pleased.

“So we’re at their mercy…?” he asked of the tax question for local residents vis a vis Madison.

Also on the docket for last Monday’s meeting was the question of a “Knox Box” down at the Community Center, which helps firefighters get into a building without forced entry in the event of an unplanned fire call-(most of them are, after all).

More on the Knox Box story as it gets resolved, dependent upon communication from Market and Johnson as the builder.