Council swears in Johnson

Newly appointed council member Sarah Johnson took her oath of office at the Janesville council meeting Monday, April 10. The council approved a resolution officially appointing her to fill the vacant seat left behind by former member Melissa Kopachek.

Johnson had a relatively easy meeting as it only went for half an hour. The council approved David Drown and Associates (DDA) to move forward with its “Classification and Compensation Study Benchmarks.” The intent of the study is to compare the pay received by Janesville city employees to that earned by workers in “benchmark” cities at about the same level. City administrator Clinton Rogers explained that, as part of the study, employees will review their job descriptions and responsibilities before their documentation goes to their supervisors for review later in the week.

“An employee from each department formed a working committee and gave various descriptions,” he elaborated. “Benchmarks would be the terms from the cities we’re going to use.”

City office manager Andrea Moen added that DDA will provide spotlight benchmarks for not only for city positions, but also for Prairie Ridge Golf Course. “It’s pulling some of what the bigger communities are doing,” she said. “For example, Kasson is in close proximity to Rochester. Therefore, Rochester is a spotlight benchmark for them.”

In Janesville’s case, many of its “spotlight benchmarks” will be from cities like Mankato, North Mankato, and Waseca.

Council member Jim Mulcahey expressed some concern about having pay rates at Prairie Ridge compared to those at eighteen-hole golf courses around the area, suggesting that doing so is “inadvisable.” 

Moen explained that the reason for those comparisons is that far more cities have larger golf courses as opposed to ones with nine holes. “We had to do that to get good comparisons.”

However, council member Ivan Maas wasn’t convinced. “I don’t think we should be comparing ourselves to golf courses in Cottage Grove and New Hope,” he said. “They’re in the metro, and they run a higher fee. That means their employees probably get paid much more.”

In the end, he opposed moving forward with the benchmark cities suggested by DDA.

Council members also decided to have the golf course purchase a Toro heavy utility cart outright to replace the current one. The alternative was to put $20,000 down and finance the remaining $12,600 through the Janesville State Bank.

The golf advisory board felt it was the best option to pay for the cart in full with the course’s funds. The city’s fund balance policy states that the city keeps 40 percent of the golf budget in the fund; the amount is currently shy of that mark. But the board and the council expressed the opinion that, given they way things are going for the golf course, another great year will make up for the deficit.

“I think we can afford to take money out of the profits,” council member Mulcahey said.

The council then approved advertising the city’s Community Development position with a May 19 deadline.

Council member Andy Ahlman reported that the golf course expects to receive the golf carts it purchased a couple months ago sometime this week. The golf advisory board is looking into futurel work on the siding, roof and indoor countertops at the clubhouse.

“The roof is going to make it a couple more years,” he informed the council. “But it will need to be addressed at some point.”

Jacob Lehrke, who helps manage the golf course, will look into getting a rough mower soon.

The season started the day of the council meeting, and things were already looking good. A record 210 golfers signed up for the men’s league this season; the membership drive saw an increase for the third straight year.

Mayor Andy Arnoldt shared that the utility board is waiting on bids for the power plant’s substation upgrades. Crews will start installing new electric meters sometime between May and June, and they only have a few water meters left to install.

The meeting adjourned at 7:30 p.m.