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COLUMBIANA -- New three-year contracts and raises were awarded to the city's union dispatchers and patrolmen in recent weeks.
City Council approved the new agreements with dispatchers and patrolmen following lengthy negotiations that started in November of last year for members of the Ohio Patrolman's Benevolent Association.
As part of the new agreements with the city, dispatchers and patrolmen will earn an equity adjustment to the pay scale for the first year and then 3 percent raises for the second and third years of the contracts.
On another matter City Manager Lance Willard wanted to thank the water and wastewater department employees for welcoming 19 members of the Rural Community Assistance Partnership (RCAP) during a visit in mid-May.
RCAP is a national network of non-profit partners that provides assistance to communities of 10,000 people or less, with a focus on improving infrastructure
Willard said the RCAP group consisted of people from all over the country and that they were in town to see how the city made use of the previous RCAP funding and gather insight on things the city is doing to be successful.
The group's first stop of their trip was the Columbiana High School where they met with students in the entrepreneur class.
The entrepreneur class has been very involved in helping the city on projects to help improve and draw attention to areas throughout the community.
"The students were very impressed that people came from California, Alabama, Arkansas, Texas, Illinois, Maine, Ohio, South Carolina, to see what we are doing in Columbiana," Willard said.
The RCAP group also took in a presentation at the 1880 Barn at Firestone Farms and visited the Harvey S. Firestone Park.
The group also toured the water and wastewater treatment plants, since RCAP provided funding assistance for the new treatment plant project in 2005 in addition to conducting a rate study to help the city cover the costs of the project.
Although the RCAP visit to the city was planned Willard said the tour of the plants was not announced to plant staff beforehand.
"They really liked the wastewater plant. Everything looks brand new. They really saw that our staff takes really good care of their equipment," Willard said. "We want to thank our water staff and our wastewater staff for taking care of our equipment, assets, and putting on a good show for our RCAP individuals."
The city also had a member of the federal department of development visit for half a day to inquire about potential economic development projects for the city, Willard said.