The Prescott Common Council voted to give its police officers a bonus for work above and beyond the call of duty during the COVID19 pandemic.

The matter was on the agenda in open session at last Monday’s meeting but discussion was moved into closed session, along with talk about “downtown redevelopment.”

Following the closed session discussion, the council voted to give police officers a total of $500 bonuses for April and May.

Minutes state: “The Council discussed giving a bonus to the Police Officers for their dedicated work during the COVID-19 issues. The rest of the staff have been breaking up their days but the Police Officers have worked their 80 hours per pay period with some having to do overtime. It was discussed the Officers and Chief would re-

See CITY MEETING, Page 9 ceive $250 for the months of April and May for a total of $500. Alderperson (Thomas) Oss questioned if the city should go outside of the union contract. Alderperson (Maureen) Otwell stated our Officers are well trained and we don’t want to risk losing any of the Officers. Alderperson (Dar) Hintz stated the city invests a lot of time in the officers.”

Council member Bailey Rona made the motion to pay the bonus, with Otwell’s second, and it passed unanimously.

In other business at the meeting:

Crazy About Beer!

The CAB Company – Crazy About Baseball – received approval for a Class B beer sales license during Prescott Pirate games at Firehall Field.

An area at the field will be set aside for beer sales and consumption.

“We wanted to have some assurance that there will be a particular area,” said Hintz, who presented the agenda item.

The license passed unanimously.

Conditional Use Permit

Kathleen Tobias purchased the hair salon at 740 Albert Street, and a conditional use permit was necessary because the business is in a residential area.

The permit was approved with the condition “that vehicles not park on Canton Street between their parking lot and the first driveway on Canton Street.

Approval was unanimous.

Cedar Corp. and Other Mayoral Appointments

After discussion, the council voted to move ahead with Cedar Corp. as its engineering firm for this year.

New council member Thomas Oss asked how long the company had the city contract, and City Administrator Jayne Brand said it’s been since 2002.

“Has any other firm expressed an interest in pursuing this employment?” asked Oss.

Brand said the contract has been put out for bids periodically.

“Cedar has always come in with a lesser amount,” she said.

Ruona asked Oss, “Do you have a specific concern? Is it financial or is it project related?”

Oss said it might be a good environment to bid the work.

“As we move forward in this COVD-19 environment, it seems we should be reassessing a lot of these,” he said.

“What are you driving at?” asked Ruona.

Oss replied, “We may be in a better position negotiating at this time. I’m just wondering. It’s kind of thinking aloud a bit.”

“I wouldn’t disagree with you Thomas, but we have so much technical invested into Cedar Corp. right now in terms of projects. What it would take to bring another engineer group up to speed and the operational costs associated with it? I don’t know if it would outweigh the bid.”

Hovel said 2021 would be a better year to look at the engineering firm.

“Next year, we don’t have any major projects. That would be the time to bid it,” he said.

“We can talk about it at budget time,” said Brand.

Cedar Corp. appointment was approved unanimously.

The Pierce County Journal was accepted unanimously as the official city newspaper, as was Heywood, Cari and Anderson as city attorney.

C ouncil member Rob Daugherty was voted as council president, meaning he acts as mayor in Hovel’s absence.

And perhaps last but not least, Resolution 09-20 was approved unanimously, commending alderperson Galen Seipel for his dedicated service to the City of Prescott.

“Galen Seipel is commended for the years of dedicated service you have given to the City of Prescott and its residents. We all wish you great health and success in all endeavors,” the resolution states.

COVID-19

Don’t expect the city to deviate from orders from the state and the Pierce County Health Department. The city was briefed by Pierce County Public Health Director AZ Snyder prior to the meeting.

“We’re going to follow the guidelines,” said Hovel. ”We’re not going to go way outside the boundaries right now.”

Garage Sales

Residents were cautioned not to have garage sales right now, because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We’ve had some calls on garage sales,” said Brand. “We’re discouraging garage sales. “