The Franklin Reporter & Advocate Eight Villages, One Community
The Township Council on January 23 approved a contract with senior department heads that will extend through the end of 2025.
The contract, with the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, covers senior department heads and is retroactive to January 1, 2021.
Township Manager Robert Vornlocker said that negotiations on a new contract were sidelined mainly because of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The AFSCME negotiator is not a Township employee, which made scheduling negotiation sessions a challenge, too, Vornlocker said.
“It wasn’t a difficult negotiation, it was primarily monetary, but Covid got in the way,” he said.
Among the department heads covered by the contract are Tax Collector, Construction Official, Planner, Fire Prevention Director, Recreation Director and Deputy Director, and Public Works Manager, Vornlocker said.
Under the contract’s terms, members received a retroactive 4 percent salary hike, except Construction Manager Carl Hauck, whose salary was raised to $130,725, and Recreation Director Beau Byrtus, whose salary was increased to $106,400.
The contract also calls for 3 percent increases for members in each year from 2022 to 2025.
Other aspects of the contract include changes to medical stipends, medical benefits, personal days, and funeral days.
