by April Scheinoha
Reporter
The Thief River Falls City Council approved two appointments and some revised job descriptions at its meeting Tuesday, Dec. 19. Those matters stemmed from the consolidation of three city departments this past summer.
In two separate motions, the council formally appointed Mark Borseth as public works director and Missy Sletten as arena manager. The two had been working in those positions in an interim capacity since the consolidation. They will be paid monthly salaries of $7,913 and $6,415, respectively.
Council Member Jerald Brown voted in opposition to both appointments. Council Member Josh Hagen was absent from the meeting.
In a third motion, the council approved salary adjustments for Parks Foreman Mike Olson and Street/Sanitation Foreman John Cervantes. Brown voted in opposition. Olson will be paid $28.55 per hour retroactive to July 8. Cervantes will be paid $28.65 per hour retroactive to Oct. 23.
Borseth noted that Olson and Cervantes’ salary adjustments follow the union contract. Both are now supervising a position that is one grade level higher than their own. The salary of city foremen is required to be 8.3 percent higher than the highest graded position that they supervise.
As part of all three motions, revised job descriptions were approved for those parties and Public Works Department staff.
Brown didn’t publicly provide a reason as to why he chose to vote in opposition. As of presstime Tuesday, he hadn’t returned a phone call from The Times.