Winnebago’s city administrator and members of the City Council met behind closed doors Tuesday night to discuss his job performance.
After 25 minutes in closed-session the meeting was re-opened to the public and the results were clear. Chris Ziegler passed with flying colors.
“I look forward to staying around for at least another year,” Ziegler joked after being told he would receive a 3 percent salary increase.
Ziegler was evaluated in 11 areas on a 10-point system and earned an average score of 7.3 from the council.
“Thank you for the positive feedback,” Ziegler told council members.
Mayor Jeremiah Schutt says achieving goals and setting priorities were discussed.
“We looked at all the pros and cons and the whole evaluation,” says Schutt.
The Planning Committee recommended Ziegler, who celebrated his four-year anniversary on Dec. 4, should be paid $62,046 annually.
In other business, the council approved using some of the Sewer Fund’s $430,000 in reserves to purchase a building from Kaduce Plumbing.
The facility will cost $290,000 and be the new home of the Public Works Department.
Ziegler says Public Works will own 25 percent of the building and the remaining $217,500 will be paid back over 10 years at an interest rate of 2 percent.
Council members also approved the 2017 budget tax levy at $585,344, a 3.55 percent hike over last year.
Ziegler initially presented a tax levy with an increase of 9 percent, but that was not acceptable to Councilman Rick Johnson.
“We are going to buy a building, it’s too high for my blood,” says Johnson. “I’d like to see it around 4 percent. I think we can get buy without cranking up taxes too much.”
The council trimmed $8,000 from the library fund, $5,000 from the ambulance department, $5,000 for maintenance at the Municipal Center and $10,000 to purchase a squad car reduce the levy.