Rice CC tables direct deposit – again

by Dave DeMars

news@thenewsleaders.com

The Rice City Council, minus council member Chris Scheel, stubbed their toes again at the Dec. 5 meeting when they got tripped up by the issue of payment of payroll wages through direct deposit. The city has only a half dozen or so full-time employees, but some members of the volunteer fire department are asking for payment by paper check because of concerns about disclosure of some of their bank-routing numbers and the like.

Council member Alan Voigt has championed the right of the firefighters or anyone else to receive a paper paycheck rather than have direct deposit mandated by the city council. The matter was originally dealt with at a meeting in 2014 when it was on the consent agenda and was agreed to with little discussion. At the Nov. 28 council meeting, council member Paula Kampa asked to have the matter tabled so she could research the issue and be more prepared at the Dec. 5 meeting.

Kampa said she had spoken with the current city treasurer, Sheri Johnson, about the safety issue of direct deposit and came away confident that information was properly safeguarded by the city.

“I also checked with some banks about what is the preferred method that banks like to use,” Kampa said. “They like the direct deposit.”

The reason, Kampa said, was there was an immediate and direct reconciliation of funds with no waiting for a check to be cashed or the danger of being lost. Kampa also said she went back to records of the 2014 meeting and found the original resolution was simply part of the consent agenda.

“During that meeting, I stated that, no, I didn’t like the mandated part,” Voigt said. “I said I wanted to give them another choice.”

“But you didn’t pull it out,” said Kampa referring to the need to pull the item from the consent agenda and place it in the business portion of the agenda.

“I guess that’s my fault for trusting,” Voigt said.

Kampa said when she started as a council member shortly after that decision, she was told she would have to take direct deposit because of that decision. Voigt said the city was obviously not upholding the 2014 resolution in a consistent manner since some paper paychecks had been issued to some city employees in 2015, and now there would be paper checks issued to some employees in 2016.

At the Nov. 28 meeting, Mayor Dale Rogholt acknowledged there had been a lapse in the consistent application of the resolution. In an attempt to rectify that, he had suggested issuing paper checks for the remainder of 2016 to those who wanted them but that beginning Jan. 1, 2017, all employee paychecks would be disbursed via direct deposit.

Voigt said he wanted to change the resolution and meet with the city attorney to draft a resolution that would be acceptable to those who were concerned about direct deposit and allowing them to request paper checks.

Rogholt thought it a bad idea. If we were to put permissible in the resolution, he said, who is to say one day they would want paper and the next day they would want direct deposit. He added the present resolution was already acceptable.

Council member Brian Skroch interjected the resolution might not be acceptable.

“In the state of Minnesota, they do not mandate we have to have direct deposit,” Skroch said.

“But it’s there so government bodies can adopt it,” Rogholt replied.

“I don’t think you can use the word mandate because the state of Minnesota does not mandate you have to have direct deposit,” Skroch said.

Discussion then centered around whether the state allowed for the city to mandate direct deposit or not, with both Skroch and Rogholt advancing their arguments and Rogholt arguing even the state mandates direct deposit for its employees. Why then couldn’t the city mandate?

Voigt suggested the reason the state mandated it was because it has more than six employees. Loud discussion continued with members talking over one another, making it difficult to sort out objections. Members of the audience joined the discussion.

Citizen Ken Nodo maintained if the majority of the council had passed the resolution in 2014, then it was in effect and it required a resolution to change that. Another citizen, Kevin Kruger, suggested those who required hand-written paper checks be charged a fee for the check, perhaps $10.

Caleb Voigt voiced the concerns of some members of the Rice Fire Department, asking whether there is a minimum amount for direct deposit? The answer was no. Caleb Voigt questioned whether, in the event numbers on private checking accounts were compromised, how would members know and was there any guarantee members would be made whole should they suffer losses?

Kampa said the city has insurance that would protect them in the event compromised information resulted in a loss.

“Our insurance policy has an endorsement on it for cyber liability,” Kampa said. “That’s what it covers.”

Caleb Voigt said some of the long-standing firefighters still prefer paper checks, but in order to allay some fears, asked the city provide a written statement assuring they would be covered in the event information was compromised.

In the end, council member Voigt said he would consult with the city attorney and he would bring a resolution to the next meeting addressing the issue of mandating direct deposit use and the option of issuing paper checks. With that, the issue was laid upon the table to be addressed at the next meeting.

The council approved a resolution giving Police Chief Ross Hamann authority to sign an agreement with the State of Minnesota dealing with the 1033 program, which loans equipment to police departments for their use. Currently the Rice department has a few rifles and handguns on loan.

During the Truth in Taxation portion of the meeting, Ken Nodo asked the council whether they had set aside and budgeted to pay for the park plan. Mayor Rogholt said the city has only requested proposals to consider, so there was no obligation. It was Nodo’s contention with the request for proposals the city was obligated to have the money available. After Nodo’s comment, Rogholt suspended the Truth in Taxation hearing and later closed it completely at 7:40 p.m.

The council approved the following consent agenda items with no discussion:

● Approval of council minutes for Nov. 21, 2016.

● Approval of council special meeting minutes for Nov. 28, 2016.

● Approval of planning commission meeting minutes for Oct. 24, 2016.

● Approval of finance board meeting minutes for Oct. 17,2016.

● Approval of police department report for October 2016.

● Approval of building permit summary for November 2016.

● Approval of Rice clubs’ liquor-license renewal.

● Approval of The Corner Pocket liquor-license renewal.

In the reports portion of the meeting, the council heard from Rice City Clerk Stephanie Fischer that the planning commission wanted the council to direct enforcement of a zoning ordinance requiring operation of a business at 137769 25th Ave. to discontinue. The council directed a letter be sent with that order.

In another action, council clarified the need for escrow money to be placed with the city to ensure completion of landscape work on the Schulte property. City ordinance forbids the planting of grass or trees between Oct. 1 and May 1, so work has had to stop.

Council member Kampa expressed her disappointment with regard to finding and keeping a recreation director and will explore ways to attract and keep same.