Milford Council Encumbers Funds In Last Meeting of 2015
MILFORD — Milford Town Council held a year-end meeting Monday, Dec. 28, to pass ordinances on a number of issues, including Ordinance 2015-11, allowing funds from 2015 to be held over for paving projects in 2016.
The issue of encumbering funds has proven to be a thorny one for the council, with town clerk Joellen Free and utilities superintendent Randy Veach at loggerheads concerning procedural issues. There was also disagreement about the amount of money available in the utilities budget.
According to Free, encumbered money must adhere to specific projects, and the council did accept a $54,495 quote from asphalt contractor Phend and Brown for paving. However, the appropriation for paving in 2015, according to Free, was for $44,191.50. That money is to be encumbered, so it may be used in 2016, as the project was not undertaken in 2015. The difference will have to be made up out of the 2016 budget.
However, Veach believed he had around $58,000 available for the project. He also expressed consternation about the procedure. “You never know what the winter is going to bring,” he explained. He believed he had more leeway in deciding how the funds would be used. “You have to put a project in place to encumber money,” Free stated. “We never had a problem before,” Veach remarked.
Veach said he’d like to do $90,000 worth of paving in 2016. Although he should have the money in the budget, it will not all be available until June, according to Free.
The council approved Ordinance 2015-11, the encumbrance for paving.
Other ordinances approved by the council are as follows:
Ordinance 2015-7, a no solicitation measure which will continue to allow non-profit activity such as sale of Girl Scout cookies. This was passed under the condition it is approved by Town Attorney Jay Rigdon.
Ordinance 2015-10, an encumbrance for guns and holsters for the Milford Police Department.
Ordinance 2015-8 approves year-end funds transfers to “rectify the books.”
Ordinance 2015-9 approved an across-the-board raise of $650 for all Milford town employees. Veach expressed disappointment at the $10,000 currently available for a part-time worker in utilities.
Free and Veach were once again in disagreement at the end of the meeting because Veach refused to turn in his old cellphone, which had been upgraded, citing important information such as contacts and electric wiring diagrams that had yet to be transferred. Veach took issue with what he considered a lack of trust on the part of the clerk. “Thirty-five years and all of a sudden I’m not trustworthy,” he said.
President Bob Cockburn agreed with council member Doug Ruch, who said, “Whether we like it or not, cellphones are vital equipment, with sophistication similar to computers.” From now on, old cellphones will, therefore, be turned in to Travis Marsh of the police department who is the acting information technology expert for the town.
Finally, due to a Milford household’s repeated non-payment of utilities bills, Free said it was “time to access the appeals process.” The council agreed to waive fines on the understanding there was “no second chance.”
If the party does not pay by Jan. 8, said councilman Dan Cochran, “You will get shut off.”