By Megan Kelley
Editor
CLARKSTON — At its Jan. 27 meeting the Clarkston City Council had a heavy agenda with a number of presentations on the docket which included information from the Clarkston Area Youth Assistance, a Canada Goose management program and a salary study.
Clarkston Area Youth Assistance (CAYA)
Caseworker for CAYA Lauren Klos and member of the CAYA Board of Directors Tricia Delude presented information on CAYA as well as a request for the council to consider instating a $5,000 sponsorship to the program.
“Youth Assistance is a prevention program. Our mission is to help strengthen youth and families and reduce instances of delinquency, abuse and neglect through community involvement. So, we have a ton of things that we do that are all about prevention and all about strengthening kids and families in our area,” Klos said.
Last school year, Klos worked with about 250 families in some capacity with 103 closures, 74% of which closed successfully.
CAYA also has its own programming including a resiliency series they held last year, Girls Stand Strong, youth recognition, Pinwheels for Prevention and other youth and family education services.
Youth Assistance is a county wide program with each school district having its own office, all structured the same way with essentially three branches of sponsorship; the Oakland County Circuit Court – Family Division, the local school district (Clarkston Community Schools) and local governments (Independence Township, Springfield Township and the City of the Village of Clarkston).
When it comes to funding currently, CAYA receives $5,000 from both Clarkston Community Schools and Independence Township as well as $3,500 from Springfield Township but no money from the city for a total cash income of $13,500. CAYA also receives in-kind services from both CCS and Independence Township which totals $32,345.
According to CAYA, its operational expenses, which are covered by local sponsor funds, round out to $18,184, meaning they are operating at a deficit of about $4,684.
While the city in the past has allocated some of its CDBG (Community Development Block Grant) funds to CAYA, that money only goes so far because it is a federal program therefore there are stipulations on what that money can be used for, Klos explained.
While the council did not ultimately make a decision to instate a $5,000 sponsorship, it was noted that the city could enter into a contract in order to allocate general fund dollars to the program.
Canada Goose Management Program
Steve Hargis provided a presentation on a proposed Canada Goose management program.
The program itself is headed up by the Michigan Department of Natural Resources (DNR) and provides mitigation options to private landowners to address issues created by the ever growing Canada Goose population.
The DNR lays out a number of methods of control including but not limited to hunting, elimination of feeding, habitat modifications, euthanization, repellents, etc.
The program, however, requires at least 100 birds in order to provide the service which, according to Hargis, the city cannot guarantee.
Despite this, Hargis indicated that he will continue to work with the DNR to attempt to find a way for the city to be part of the program.
Salary Study
Last year, the city discussed having a salary study done in order to identify the appropriate salary for positions in the city in order for them to remain competitive in the market.
Since then, a study was completed by Rahmberg Stover and Associates which was presented to the council by Jeff Rahmberg.
According to Rahmberg, when compared to market data, the city’s clerk and treasurer salary is not out of line with the standard pay seen in other municipalities. The deputy clerk and city manager salaries, however, are well below even the minimum salary seen in other municipalities.
With that in mind, Rahmberg provided recommendations based on market data including developing salary ranges for the four positions with a minimum salary, a midpoint salary and a maximum salary. Rahmberg also recommended the city create steps to guide progression of employee salaries.
There were also findings and recommendations regarding benefits that are offered to those four employees.
“Candidly, your benefits package isn’t very competitive,” Rahmberg said, pointing specifically to the lack of health insurance and retirement program.
The city currently does not provide health insurance to those four employees and its retirement program is essentially a 401K match program.
Rahmberg’s recommendation was to provide health insurance coverage and consider increasing the city’s 3% 401K match. Council discussed the findings and accepted them into record before agreeing to send the report to the city’s finance committee for further review.