3 city employees off probation

The California Board of Aldermen on Monday, Nov. 7, approved removing probation status from three city employees. The change involves three different departments.
The probation status of James Wiecken, California police officer, and Robert Gadd, employee of the street department, and Aaron Brown, with the Water and Wastewater Department, were changed to regular employee status due to the end of a six-month probation period.
Brown also recently passed the required test for drinking water certification (DFC). He already had met the requirement of having a Commercial Drivers License (CDL).
A small hourly wage increase was also approved by the council for those employees no longer on probation.
Dental, vision and life insurance renewals for the city employees was also approved. There were no increases this year in any of the three. A change in the health insurance was approved to make the renewal dates the same for all of the policies. The health insurance policies will go 13 months this time in order to expire on the same day as the other insurance.
In other new business, the council approved a request for the Waylon Martensen Memorial "Endure the Race 5-K Walk/Run" on Nov. 19.
Completed, and ongoing projects were addressed in an Old Business session.
The final report on the $3.5 million water tower project, partially funded by a $1.7 million grant, was made at the meeting. Included in total project was the construction of one new water tower on the west end of the city, the cleaning and renovation of the water tower on Russellville Road, the installation of 3,000 feet of new water line, rebuilding several well houses, construction one new well house and computer connections of all the wells and the towers. Payment for the demolition of the city-owned water tower at Cargill was approved in the amount of $37,580.
The status of the 2016 sanitary sewer project was reviewed for the council. That project involves sewer lines on Howard and Moniteau streets and Versailles Avenue. It is expected that bids could be sought in December for work to start in the spring.
For the northwest quarter sewer projects, discussions are still ongoing with property owners. That project is not yet ready for the design phase to begin.
Under department reports, Park Supervisor Robert Pace reported that the caboose at Proctor Park has been power washed and looks very good.
The next regular meeting is in the City Hall Council Chamber, Monday, Dec. 5, at 7 p.m.