Once again the city of Indianola is without a city clerk.
After emerging from a closed executive session on Monday night, the Indianola Board of Aldermen introduced a motion to accept the resignation of City Clerk Lashanda Moore effective December 6.
The aldermen voted and unanimously accepted the proposal.
Mayor Steve Rosenthal said afterwards that the city is making plans to advertise for a new clerk and some other positions.
The city clerk’s position has been a source of contention over the past few months with the mayor and some of the aldermen locking horns over whether the position needed a fulltime assistant.
The aldermen also accepted the resignation of City Attorney Gary Austin effective December 31. Austin has said in previous months that he was making plans to retire from his position.
In addition, they voted unanimously to hire a new police dispatcher and voted 4-1 to hire a new public works employee with Alderman Gary Fratesi casting the no vote.
Retired city employee Essie Harris was formally presented with a plaque from the city in recognition of his 17 years of continuous service. Harris retired in October and the city has been planning to give him the symbol of gratitude since that time. “It took us a little while to get a nice enough plaque to present to him,” Rosenthal said.
He read from the plaque and added, “October 14 is when we had it originally set to give to you.” Harris said, “I thank everybody, I’ll enjoy it the rest of my life, I’ll have this to remind me of my working for the city.”
The city leaders voted unanimously to accept a pressure washer that was donated to the Hough-Dement Animal Shelter by Tannehill Industries.
Fratesi raised issue with the lack of financial reports and questioned when the lawmakers would get started on getting the information. Rosenthal said he would make arrangements for an accounting firm to come in to assist.
Fratesi then queried Attorney Austin on the ramification of not having the reports and Austin said the city is legally required to have them. No other action was taken.
Fratesi also initiated a discussion about city employees taking city vehicles home, which raised a question of whether anyone who was subject to after-hour call-outs could take the vehicles home or just those who were subject to emergency call-outs.
The lawmakers acknowledged that it was up to the department heads to determine which persons needed to take vehicles home but asked the department heads to submit a list of those who do by the next meeting.
Custom Landscaping Inc. owner Victor Holt made a presentation regarding his desire to be hired to perform the work and upkeep on certain city-maintained properties, including the gateways into the city and more especially the U.S. 82/49 intersection.
The lawmakers also voted to issue the budgeted annual allotment to the Indianola Chamber/Main Street.
