ORR- At a special meeting on Nov. 8, Orr City Council members interviewed two applicants for a vacant seat on the council last week and voted to appoint John Jirik to the position.
Jirik is a familiar face to Orr residents. He’s currently the principal at Tower-Soudan Elementary School and has a history with ISD 2142 dating back to 1991 when he was a social studies teacher and head football coach at Orr High School. He added administration to his resume as dean of students and athletic director at Orr and then North Woods School.
In his application, Jirik noted that he has been in leadership positions for the past 30 years and felt like it was time to work within the community in a non-school-related position.
The second applicant interviewed for the position was James Gray, a 20-plus year resident of Orr. A second item considered at the special meeting was administrative staffing for city government, in particular the possible elimination of the deputy clerk/treasurer position and the reassignment of financial duties to City Clerk Angela Lindgren.
Lindgren advised the council that she’d spoken with City Auditor Bonnie Sterle about the change, and Sterle recommended that Mayor Robert Antikainen sign the city’s checks to provide appropriate financial controls. Strle also recommended that an alternate to Lindgren be chosen to be in charge of payroll should Lindgren become ill at the time payroll is to be processed.
To better facilitate her increased workload, Lindgren asked the council to provide her with a laptop computer and a cordles phone system, as well as additional cleaning help for the Tourist Information Center/city office. Council members suggested that current employee Russ Stokes could add the TIC to his liquor store cleaning duties. Council member Melissa Wright expressed some concern about having only one person in the office performing all the duties, and the possibility of hiring a seasonal part-timer for the tourist season was discussed.
Eliminating the assistant clerk position would result in salary savings of $40,560 a year plus addition savings in health insurance premiums. This would provide more than sufficient funding to implement pay raises for liquor store Manager Laura Manai and employee Marie Cloyd that have been delayed over budget concerns. Lindgren also requested a raise of $5 an hour for assuming the assistant clerk’s duties. The council reacted favorably to these adjustments but took no formal action on them.
Bruce Black made the formal motion to eliminate the position, which was seconded by Hannah Manick and passed unanimously.
Regular meeting
The council reconvened on Monday for their regular monthly meeting, with the first order of business being Jirik taking the oath of office.
A list of rather routine items greeted Jirik for his first meeting, with questions raised about the budget available for various requested items highlighting the need for an agenda item proposing that former clerk Cheri Carter be contracted to perform bank reconciliation activities reaching back to May, when the city auditor found issues that have clouded an accurate assessment of where all departmental budgets currently stand. For example, in a discussion with Ambulance Director Donna Hoffer, the council learned that some revenue growth hasn’t been fully reconciled, and an item that was inadvertently paid for twice also need to be resolved and reflected in the budget.
It was recommended that Carter be hired at a rate of $35/hour to perform the work, and Wright said a formal contract should be drawn up specifying the rate, duties expected to be performed, and number of hours the work is expected to take.
In other business, the council:
• Approved annual liquor and cigarette licenses for Pelican Bay Foods and Norman’s One Stop.
• Agreed to again sponsor a citywide Christmas lighting contest, with prizes of $125, $75 and $50 to come from the city’s economic development fund. Wright said she will be spearheading the event this year.
• Approved a request from Melissa Rabas to make a $250 donation for the Orr Snow City Festival to help cover various expenses, including advertising.
• Reviewed and approved an estimate of $920.20 from Advantage Systems Group to replace a malfunctioning security camera at the Orr Muni.
• Approved payment of an invoice from Lundgren Motors for $5,127 for work performed on one of the city’s ambulances to repair broken right side manifold studs. It was necessary to remove the engine in order for mechanics to complete the necessary repairs.
• Approved the ambulance service switching its oxygen supplier to M02 Minneapolis Oxygen. The service will save money through buying their tanks rather than paying a monthly rental charge, and can lock in the cost of refills for three years. The new oxygen cylinders will cost $1,805.
• Approved a request from Manick to move the time for regular council meetings from 5:30 p.m. to 6 p.m. to accommodate potential winter weather issues that could impact her ability to travel from work in time for meetings.