Harrison board approves staff COVID-19 policy

The Harrison Village Board last week approved a staff COVID-19 policy and sent three other items back to staff for more information.

The COVID-19 policy allows full-time employees at the village and Harrison utilities to receive American Rescue Plan Act funds for a maximum of 80 hours of time away from work without using personal time off and for quarantine periods recommended by the CDC when leave is requested. Funds are available until Dec. 31, 2024, when the act expires.

Faced with the options of choosing the current policy of the village paying employees a stipend for using their phones for work and the utility employees using utility owned phones, or having all employees using phones owned by the village or having all employees receiving a stipend for using their own phones for business, trustees referred the matter back to staff requesting a listing of which employees would have phones and what the cost would be per phone, if each employee was provided a village-owned phone. 

The budget impact under the current policies is $7,879.92 per year. If all current employees were paid an annual stipend, the cost is projected at $7,320 per year. If the village owned the phone, cost is projected at $12,489.84 per year. Because the latter option is not included in this year’s budget, a switch to the village owning all phones and providing them to employees would have to wait until the 2023 budget year.

After reviewing the Compre-hensive Plan and Village Center Plan, trustees referred both to the plan commission for consideration of options and modifications specifically relating to family housing and the Village Center concept. Under state statutes, the plan commission must be involved when amending the comprehensive plan. The process includes a notice in the newspaper, a public hearing held by the plan commission, a recommendation from the plan commission followed by final approval of the village board.

A review of urbanization around Sunrise School in the Hoelzel Haven subdivision indicated an estimated cost of $2,325,670 for the project. Assessed costs for curb and gutter, driveway aprons and mini storm sewer laterals were projected at an average of $9,800 per lot. Based on the front foot assessment of curb and gutter to the school, the $139,256.18 cost would be reduced approximately $30,000. If sidewalks were included in assessments, the school district would pay approximately 22 percent of the $275,555 cost.

The primary reason for urbanizing the area is to allow students from subdivisions east of Highway N, who have sidewalks to N, to proceed to Sunrise School. Without sidewalks leading to schools, state statutes require that children must be bused. Because there are no sidewalks leading to the school, students living across the street from the school must be bused to and from their homes.

Trustee Scott Handschke’s suggestion that a trail be constructed from Highway N west on Midway Road to the school failed because there is not enough right-of-way on N to allow for a ditch and a trail. Handschke settled on a motion to ask the village engineer to design a path from N to the school that would not require urbanization or, if urbanization was required, that the project be scaled back. All trustees approved the motion.

The engineer’s proposal will be discussed at the Feb. 22 meeting and final plan submitted to a public informational meeting from 6-7 pm on Feb. 24. The project will be bid in mid-March with the public hearing for property owners to be scheduled for a time after bids are received.