Gary Brennan appointed to Bement Village Board
The Bement village board has a new member as Gary Brennan was appointed January 11 to finish a term vacated by last month’s resignation of Woodie Dean. He will officially be sworn in at the February 8 meeting and the board is now looking for another member.
Board members also learned five-year board member Clayton Ahlden would be resigning from his seat as he plans to relocate to Florida, leaving another seat to fill on the board.
Ahlden told the board it’s been a pleasure and fun. Village President Tieman wished Ahlden good luck and thanked him for his five years of service.
Terms for both board seats will run through the spring of 2024 election.
The board approved granting village employees up to five consecutive workdays of paid time off if they test positive for COVID-19. Not required, workers could be mandated to use sick or other benefit time, but board members felt it was the appropriate action to take. The five days are in addition to 12 days of sick time full-time employees receive per year. Proof of a positive test will be required to claim the COVID-19 days.
Village attorney Susan Nicholas told the board there are no federal or state mandates currently in place regulating COVID time off so that leaves a lot of discretion on what you can do. It would be difficult to abuse the COVID sick days as either you are positive or you’re not she added.
In other action the board approved $200 to help fund goodie bags for residents at the nursing home and seniors at home around Valentine’s Day, a project being led by recreation department director Holly Fuson. The Bement Lions Club is also donating to the project.
A brief discussion on pool repair was held as board member Frank Koebel suggested the village look into the possibility of a fiberglass liner. It might be less expensive than the $150,000 to $200,000 estimate to repair the concrete base.
Tieman said engineers are investigating options, which will be brought to the village board for consideration. He also said there is $100,000 in the city pool account to help fund repairs, as well as another $120,000 in grant funding that may be available.
