Chatsworth votes on new fire gear, eyes four-day work week

The Chatsworth City Council voted to buy new breathing gear for the Chatsworth Fire Department at Monday’s regular meeting.

The cost of the 16-pieces of equipment is $140,000 and will be paid for using monies from the Special Local Options Sales Tax (SPLOST).

“Our current ones are outdated,” said council member Fred Welch. For more of Welch’s comments, click here.

Under this proposal, all 16 would be replaced at the same time, rather than doing a few at a time. Because the company that sells the equipment is foreseeing a five-percent price increase by the end of February, Welch said they would move forward with a three-year lease-purchase agreement. This would require the City of Chatsworth to pay $14,000 up front followed by three additional annual payments.

The company offered longer lease-purchase plans, but Welch said the current SPLOST will continue for four years and he didn’t want the city to run the risk of over extending itself when they can pay it off in three years.

“We just don’t want to go past that,” he said.

Four-day workweek

The Chatsworth City Council also agreed to try a four-day work week for the public works department. The trial would run for 90-days and then both the department and the city council would look at how it went before deciding if it should be implemented on a permanent basis.

Although the work week would be scheduled for Monday-Thursday, if employees need to work on Friday for special events or emergencies, they can do so and take compensation time off.

One concern the council discussed was how paid holidays might be impacted by switching to four 10-hour days versus five eight-hour days.

According to Wilma Nolan, city clerk, the current policy awards holiday pay at eight-hours, which cannot be changed except by a policy change. This means employees would either have to use two hours of vacation time to make up the difference, or lose two-hours in pay.

Council member Terry Crump said it’s an issue the city can figure out if the city decides to keep the four-day work week.

One benefit he saw was a decrease in employees being absent.

“When they know they have Friday off, they tend to schedule their appointments for that day rather than taking off,” he said.

In other city council news

The council approved a rezoning request for Travis Voerste at 119 North Sixth Avenue from low-density residential to office residential. Dolley Flood told the city council the request would allow for a medical counselling service to come into the area.