UPDATE: The special meeting on December 17th has been cancelled.

As the City of Stuart has begun work on its third housing addition, concerns over local department staffing and wages pervaded through the City Council’s meeting Monday.

Council member Theresa Glass expressed frustration that an action item wasn’t placed on the agenda regarding Library Director Lisa Sherman’s employment status and pay. City Administrator Ashraf Ashour pointed out that Glass’ request to have it on the agenda came at about 4:15 p.m. Friday after the agenda had been sent out. Sherman is employed part-time, and the library is currently without an assistant librarian. The Council decided to schedule a special meeting for December 17th to discuss the matter.

The Council later approved a request from Stuart Rescue Director Sean Bovinett to change paramedic Luke Dahl’s status to part-time and give him about a $2 raise to $24 an hour. Bovinett explained that this change would save the City about $20,000 as they wouldn’t be giving Dahl benefits.

Mayor Dick Cook expressed his fear if the Council had denied the request, “I’m just scared to death if we don’t give this $2 he might walk out tomorrow. That’d be a shame because we have so many medical issues around this town and say, ‘Well, we don’t have a paramedic.’ And I feel sorry for Sean and the hours he’s putting in and I know it’s gotta be stressful if he goes back and tells Luke, ‘You’re gonna work for us but you don’t get $2 an hour.’ Like you say he’s got a full-time job already, he’s going to have benefits, this is just his side kick helping our town out.”

During public forum Stuart Police Officer Katie Guisinger expressed concerns over having a stable department, as they’re currently looking for a third officer to replace Tyler DeFrancisco who’s now employed by Adair County. Sherman commented on Stuart’s growing population, “What I think we are expressing tonight from each department is just how much more those homes, those people, the services they’re demanding and we can’t keep up. So I don’t know if there’s another way to maybe step (back) and let us get caught up before another development is built and so maybe TIF (tax increment financing) money could be used for the services that we desperately need.”

Sherman added that the City is asking a lot from its departments that are understaffed.