By Rusty Nixon Correspondent
PLYMOUTH — Plymouth’s Clerk-Treasurer Toni Hutchings will get a raise for the new year after all.
The Plymouth Common Council voted on a salary ordinance for elected officials for the coming year, with councilman Kurt Garner making the motion that the ordinance be approved with the amendment that the Clerk-Treasurer be given a 5 percent raise for the coming year.
Elected officials in Plymouth (Mayor, Clerk-Treasurer, and Councilpersons) have not had a salary increase since 2003. At the council’s last meeting, councilman Jack Greenlee had made the motion to freeze salaries again for the coming year. The ordinance came up for first reading again at last night’s meeting, since Greenlee did not make his motion to amend the ordinance and a new ordinance had to be drafted reflecting the freeze.

Councilman Chuck Ripley commented that the city was in “a quandary” because of the fact that other city employees had received raises over the same period and, “…we have at least two department heads that are making more than the Clerk-Treasurer and the Mayor.”
The ordinance, amended by Garner, must still pass second and third reading.
In other business, annexation of property near St. Joseph Regional Medical Center in Plymouth will take the next step.
The council decided to proceed with the next step in annexation of 14 properties on S.R. 17 near the hospital. Local resident John Snyder had approached the council about the possibility to enable him to connect a property he owns there to city utilities.
Several other residents in the area already have city sewer, and some have both water and sewer service.
City Attorney Joe Simanski said the next step would be to present the legal description of the property to be annexed at the next meeting of the council.
In the meeting of the city Board of Works and Public Safety, Street Superintendent Jim Marquardt told the board that city leaf pick up continues but weather has slowed the process.
“It’s not wet enough to bring out the loader,” said Marquardt. “But the rain slows down the process a lot.”
He told the board that leaf pick up would continue for the next two weeks, as quickly as weather would allow, until the weather no longer allows it.
Water Superintendent Jeff Yeazel told the Water Works Board that inspection and maintenance in the west water tower was completed and that the department continues to prepare for the winter.
In other action, the Plymouth Common Council passed ordinances on construction site and post construction storm water control and a related ordinance regarding illicit discharge.