MARIETTA – One of the goals at Gold Star Park has been to bring down the vacant, deteriorating community building on the property before it brings itself down, Public Works Director Jim Wark summarized for members of the Marietta City Council’s Lands, Buildings and Parks Committee on Monday night.

To that end, he reported on the three bids he had sought for the demolition and said the one qualifying bid he received came in about $10,000 under the $50,000 that had been set aside by council.

Law Director Paul Bertram III will set up the contract between City of Marietta Safety Service Director Steve Wetz and Empire Builders. Empire will demolish and remove the building remains and prepare the site to be returned to a green part of the park.

The Employee Relations committee also met Monday night and revisited hiring issues Bertram has discussed at previous meetings. His office is not competitive in attracting new hires, based on the current salaries authorized for positions in his office, he has reported. Bertram said he was seeing other areas starting their pay scales at least in the $66,000 to $70,000 range, and at times even $75,000. His last hire started at $54,517, and left July 15 to be a public defender. There is state money now for public defenders, he said, and their first pay step is $66,000.

Bertram has presented a detailed proposal to council to bring his office’s salaries into better line and has put the price tag at a total just under $29,000. That would cover adjustments to pay rates for five of his six staff members and also would include accompanying costs such as taxes and Public Employee Retirement System amounts. Council members present for the meeting agreed with Councilman Mike Scales’ suggestion that the issue be handled as part of the upcoming budget discussions for next year.

Bertram earlier had told council that American Rescue Plan Act funds could legally be used to pay for adjustments, and at that time he did not see another funding source that could be used. At Monday’s meeting, however, he said he would continue to look for possible funds from grants or other sources.

Council’s Finance Committee also met Monday night, but did not make any specific headway with its overriding concern about the 2023 budget: there’s not enough money to cover everything that everyone wants to do. Director of Budget and Purchasing Bill Dauber attended the meeting, but Mayor Joshua Schlicher and Public Safety and Service Director Steve Wetz did not.

Scales, who chairs the finance committee, and committee member Susan Boyer both expressed their willingness to work with the administration, but emphasized that specific times needed to be established for Schlicher and Wetz to be present with council members and ready to address matters related to the budget.

“What are we going to do when the ARPA money is gone?” Boyer asked.

She and other council members expressed reluctance to use ARPA money to make up deficits that would only catch up with them once again down the road, if systemic changes are not made.

“The biggest expense is the head count,” Scales said, referring to the number of city employees. As various council members took turns voicing their opinions, some said department cuts, personnel cuts or a tax rate increase might be an answer. “But none of us wants to take a chainsaw approach to this,” Scales said.

Dauber said that in all fairness, Wetz and Schlicher need him to “at least make a first pass at assessing the numbers” before they would have the information they needed to have those conversations council is wanting. On questioning from Boyer, he said the initial assessment could be ready in a couple of days, even though there might be a few holes from data he is still waiting on.

The finance committee will be meeting again when the people and the data are lined up, Scales said.

He added, with a smile: “It doesn’t look like the budget process is going to be as smooth this coming year as it was last time.”