Two Masontown patrolmen get raises, promotions
MASONTOWN – Borough council voted to give two senior patrolmen a promotion and a raise during Tuesday’s meeting. Patrolman Joseph Ryan and Patrolman Jeffrey Standish were both promoted to corporal and given a 30 cent-an-hour raise. The contract between the police department and the borough states any officer with the rank of corporal will make $16.05 an hour. Both men were making $15.75 an hour as patrolmen.
Council voted on the issue after Mayor Thomas Loukota reported both men have “30 years between them working for the borough” and have never received a promotion or a raise.
Loukota said the “incentive raise” as he called it would cost the borough about $700 in additional salary money for the rest of this fiscal year.
“They’ve proven their loyalty and they deserve the raise,” Loukota said.
Councilwoman Carole Daniels said the promotion and subsequent raise is long overdue.
“They both are very dedicated police officers,” she said.
Council voted unanimously on the issue, with four members present. Council members Joe Volansky, Thomas Salonick and Frank McLaughlin were not present at the meeting. Salonick has missed the last several meetings.
In other matters, council also agreed to pay Pine Hollow Mechanical Contracting $12, 251 for recent work done at the water plant. The contractors repaired the river well, the piping into the water plant and installed a hatch cover.
Council originally agreed to pay the company $11,285, but borough engineer Russ Mechling said extra work needed done at the water plant raised the bill by $966.
Although not happy about the added expense, Daniels said she was “extremely pleased” with the work done at the water plant and thanked all those involved. She said the water plant is now functioning “100 percent better than it was” earlier this year. In February, before work had begun, Daniels reported the water plant had several glitches and sporadic pressure.
In relation to the water plant, Daniels made a motion to purchase two additional security cameras for the facility. Council approved unanimously.
Council also conducted the following business:
– Said hard-to-recycle items can be dropped off May 27 at the Fayette County Fairgrounds.
– Announced voter education and outreach materials are available at the municipal building. The materials include information about the new electronic voting machines.