Village Board to Keep On Rolling Through Employee Vehicle Talks Tonight

Update: This story now includes remarks from Village Attorney Steve Andersson.

trustees have been talking about changing the employee vehicle policy since July. Tonight, it’s back on the agenda for the Committee of the Whole, and the board will have even more options to consider.

Trustees began looking at the policy, hoping they could find a way to save money. The village currently spends roughly $6,072 per year on four take-home vehicles for employees, according to Finance Director Jeff Zoephel. The village also pays to insure and maintain those vehicles, and spends an additional $9,600 on vehicle allowances for three other staff members who use their own cars to drive to work.

After initially agreeing last month to a proposal that would grandfather in all existing employees and allow the board to consider new hires on a case by case basis, the board voted that ordinance down 4-2. Late last month, they tabled a second proposal that would limit take-home vehicles to members of the police department, and set a specific 20-mile radius in which employees with take-home vehicles must live.

That option is still on the table, and two trustees—Andy Kazcmarek and Stan Bond—have presented their own drafts of a new vehicle policy as well. Kaczmarek’s is adapted from the Internal Revenue Service’s employee policy, and not only sets specific limits on how and how often village vehicles can be used, but also requires a log to be kept for each one.

Bond’s is more of a refinement of previous ideas. His version limits take-home vehicles to four members of the police department (chief, deputy chief, investigations sergeant and investigations officer) and suspends all vehicle allowances, including those to the village manager.

Village Manager Anne Marie Gaura currently receives $7,200 a year in vehicle expenses, as guaranteed by her contract. But Bond believes an across-the-board reduction would apply to her as well, due to a clause in her contract that states her benefits cannot be reduced unless those same benefits are reduced for all non-union village employees.

Steve Andersson, attorney for the village, disagrees. In a memo circulated to trustees last week, Andersson said that since all non-union village employees do not currently receive the vehicle benefit, reducing it would not affect Gaura's contract.

"However, as the Village Manager’s car allowance is unique to the Village Manager and no other employee has the same benefit (and only a few have it at all, with the majority not having such a benefit)... No reasonable interpretation of that section would allow the Village to remove her vehicle under that section," Andersson wrote.

Trustees will also start discussing the Fiscal Year 2013 budget. Zoephel has asked for direction on several policy questions, including whether the board wants to change the current $55,000-a-year contribution to the , wants to move the road and bridge tax fund out of the general fund, and would like to take salt purchases out of the motor fuel tax fund, as trustees have suggested.

Zoephel would also like to hear the board’s ideas on paying back the remaining $691,000 the village borrowed from the general fund to prop up the capital improvement fund several years ago. Failing to pay it back, Zoephel said, could see the village’s auditors simply reducing the general fund by that amount.

Trustees will also discuss a proposal to move the Greater Montgomery Area Chamber of Commerce’s offices into Village Hall. The Chamber currently rents from the MEDC, in its office at 200 Webster Street.

The Committee of the Whole meeting begins at 6:30 p.m. at , 200 N. River St. It is free and open to the public.