Maryville OKs Union Contract
By Charles Feldman, Reporter
An agreement between the International Union of Operating Engineers, Local 520C and the village of Maryville was approved at the Tuesday, January 2 meeting of the Maryville Village Board.
Based in Granite City and covering 16 counties, the union’s members work for area municipalities in the streets and water departments and in construction, among other trades. This retroactive contract covers the period of time from November 1, 2019 through October 31, 2023.
“It is a four-year contract that will include 10 percent pay raises throughout the life of the contract,” said Maryville Mayor Craig Short.
“Three percent the first year, two percent, three percent, two percent,” he explained.
“We are creating a lead worker position which will be in the union,” Short said. “It’s kind of a field supervisor so the superintendents won’t have to be on the job site all the time. They can do their administrative work. So that way there is a definite person in charge when they’re out in the field working on projects.”
Other than that, the agreement includes some language changes, according to Short, some pay raises and increases to uniform allowance. “Nothing earth-shattering,” he said.
The board also voted to replace a color copier machine. The new machine costs $5,001 and has a full maintenance program at $300 annually that covers everything except paper, according to Short.
“It’s less expensive than our current copier that we purchased eleven years ago,” said Short. “It does have some added features where we are going to be able to modify some Word documents and PDF documents through the copy machine. Plus it will scan two-sided while our current copier does not.”
In other developments, Short proclaimed January 2020 as Radon Action Month. Cancer-causing radon gas is colorless, odorless and tasteless and is naturally produced from the soil. A simple test can show if it has entered a home or building through small cracks in the foundation, sump pumps or crawl spaces.
“If you are not aware of the radon levels in your house we ask that you test for it and make sure that if you have it that it becomes removed and mitigated,” Short said.
Before the meeting, the board held hearings for pre-annexation and water agreements for properties at 117 Ridgemoor Drive and 5718 Illinois Route 162 in Glen Carbon.
Building and Zoning Administrator Kevin Flaugher reported that in December 2019, 11 building permits were issued at a cost of $5,323.20 and a valuation of 993,000. For the year 2019, a total of 134 building permits were issued at a cost of $73,866.47 and a valuation of $17,858,270.
As fire chief, Flaugher reported that during December 2019 his department made 104 responses, including 92 EMS calls, three structure fires, three motor vehicle crashes, five alarms and one investigation.
Deputy Police Chief Tony Manley reported that during the month of December his department responded to 431 calls for service, up from 409 the previous year, issued 182 citations and filed 12 accident reports.
The next board meeting will be held on Wednesday, January 15 at 6:30 p.m. at Village Hall. The public is welcome to attend.
