By TESA CULLI
tesa.culli@register-news.com
BENTON —
The Rend Lake Conservancy District has approved an agreement with the Army Corps of Engineers to upgrade sewer lift stations and approved union contracts.
“We’ve been working with the Corps for a while on the lift stations,” RLCD General Manager Keith Thomason said, adding the majority of the upgrade is needed due to recent refurbishing and renovations of Corps areas.
“The Corps will be paying for all costs with the exception of $5,000 for a control system upgrade, which we were going to have to do anyway,” Thomason said.
The Corps will be paying $129,000 for the upgrades, which is the lowest bid for the work received by RLCD.
Also during a special meeting on Friday, the board approved a union agreement, which is now waiting for signature by the union, Thomason said.
The new union contract will call for a pay increase over the next three years, with 2 percent this year, 2.5 percent next year and 3 percent in the third year. However, the union agreed to pay a portion of the health insurance premiums. Thomason said under the previous contract, the district paid 100 percent of premiums for the employees, and under the new contract, the employee will pay $15 per month; $130 per month for the employee and one dependent and $175 per month for full family coverage under the district’s health insurance provider, Blue Cross/Blue Shield.
In addition, other provisions of the new contract allow the union members to be paid for unused vacation two times a year in place of the previous one time per year; added grandparents, grandchildren and step children to the bereavement policy; allows for anyone to work in the event of an emergency when no experienced person is available; and eliminated provisions for automatic progression for lower level clerical staff and instead agreed that no more than 50 percent of the clerical staff will be at the lower pay level.
