FAIRMONT– The Fairmont City Council on Monday considered the employment agreement negotiations that have recently come in from interim city administrator candidate, Jason Baker. The council had sent an initial employment offer to Baker on Feb. 19.

Human Resources Manager, Rachel Viesselman, said, “he’s come back with a request for a couple of items that would differ a little bit compared to the initial offer that he received.”

Viesselman said that Baker has asked for 80 hours of vacation leave on the books upon hire, two months salary and benefits if terminated in the zero to six months timeframe, three months salary and benefits in the six to 12 months timeframe and four months salary and benefits in the 12 to 24 months timeframe.

“He understands your hesitance with taking him on as a new hire, but he also thinks that there’s a little risk there for him,” Viesselman said.

In its original offer, the council offered zero vacation hours to start, no salary and benefits for severance in the zero to six months timeframe, two months of salary and benefits in the six to 12 months timeframe and three months salary and benefits in the 12 to 24 months timeframe.

Council Member Jay Maynard said that it’s not uncommon for people who are starting in a new position and already have vacation scheduled and paid for to have it be accommodated for by employers.

“I’m certainly not going to tell a man that he can’t go on vacation with his family just because he came to work here,” Maynard said.

Regarding the other request for termination benefits, Maynard told the council, “folks, let’s face it, we have a history and it’s not at all unreasonable, given that history, for a candidate to request that we make some accommodations for a risk in light of that history.”

Council Member James Kotewa asked what other new hires start off with regarding vacation hours. Viesselman said that the past city administrator was hired with 80 vacation hours on the books and a director position gets 40 vacation hours to start. Kotewa pointed out that this is an interim position and that vacation hours will be accrued right away.

Council Member Britney Kawecki said she didn’t have a problem with giving 80 hours of vacation but that she “wouldn’t budge” on severance.

“As an interim, you don’t get severance…. You’re getting a lot of vacation. We need to see what you have to offer. You’re coming with very minimal experience,” Kawecki said.

The council had previously been divided on whether or not to even offer Baker the interim position based on what some saw as a lack of experience, both in terms of time served and the size of the city served.

“I think everybody here would be happy if this interim position were to turn into a regular, full-time position but to do that we first have to get him on board,” Maynard said.

After some more discussion, Kawecki said that she believed Fairmont is a good opportunity for Baker and reiterated that she is fine with offering 80 hours of vacation leave to start but that she thought the severance options should remain the same as what was offered.

Kawecki made a motion to offer 80 hours of vacation starting on day one, which was seconded by Maynard. It passed 3-2 with councilors Lubenow and Kotewa opposed.

Kawecki made another motion to keep the same termination benefits as originally presented. Lubenow seconded it. The motion failed 3-2 with Council Members Wayne Hasek, Maynard and Kotewa opposed.

Maynard then made a motion to allow for the severance schedule as Baker requested. Kotewa seconded it. The motion passed 3-2 with Kawecki and Lubenow opposed.

In other business, the council discussed some items that had been pulled from the consent agenda. The first was the consideration of a two phase contractor service contract with Premier Lake Harvesting LLC for the mechanical harvesting and removal of Curly Leaf Pondweed (CLP).

At the Dec. 9, 2025 meeting, the council had approved working with the city’s legal team to draft a contract with staff’s recommended contractor, Premier Lake Harvesting LLC following a Request for Proposal (RFP) process.

Kawecki said, “Curly Leaf Pondweed is new to Hannah Neusch, the water resources coordinator, and I just feel that a project of this size should have some additional oversight. At the last meeting she did indicate that she’s overwhelmed because she doesn’t have a boss.”

Kawecki asked Public Works Director, Matthew York, whether he thought civil engineer, Tyler Cowing, could assist with the project.

“I think for just shy of $200,000, there needs to be a little more oversight,” Kawecki said.

However, York said he did not think that Cowing had the bandwidth to assist as he is busy with the city’s upcoming road work projects, among other projects.

“This will be a huge project. It’s a huge issue for the residents of Fairmont. Basically this is the blind leading the blind. We’ve discussed it at almost every Lakes Commission meeting. No one knows how to tackle this issue (of CLP),” Kawecki said.

Acting Administrator, Paul Hoye, acknowledged that Neusch has expressed a desire for more help recently and that he believes a community development director, which the city is also hiring for, would oversee the project.

“Hopefully we can have that position filled here before the harvesting starts in the summer,” Hoye said. “I think it will help a lot when we have that position filled. I think this is a new thing for everybody. It’s going to create new challenges and it definitely will help with that leadership with that position to oversee this contract going forward,” Hoye said.

Kawecki made a motion to approve phase one (three visits at $60,000) and that there be a presentation provided to council at the end of phase one, prior to the start of phase two (three visits at $114,000) of the contract with Premier Lake Harvesting LLC. The motion also included that the city attorney update the contract for phase two to be approved later on if the vendor agrees to it. The motion passed.

The council on Monday also considered the purchase of a new dump/plow truck and snow removal equipment, and the option to declare the replaced 1990 truck as excess inventory to be sold at auction, which was also pulled from the consent agenda. After some discussion, the council approved the purchase of a chassis from Truck Center Companies, dump/snow removal equipment from TBEI and declared the replaced truck as excess inventory to be sold at auction.

Finally, the council considered the submission of names to the chief judge for charter commission appointments. Kawecki took issue with the re-submission of Maynard to the judge as a charter commission member because he’s also a council member.

Lubenow said he has heard from past and present charter commission members who also have concerns with Maynard serving on both the charter commission and city council. He asked Maynard to withdraw his name.

Maynard said, “the claim is that there is a conflict of interest between members of the charter commission and members of the council.”

He said, however, that the interest of the charter commission and the city council are the same: the betterment of the city of Fairmont. He also said it is not prohibited by state law to have city council member serve on the charter commission.

“As Councilor Kawecki noted, the charter commission has passed a proposal to put that before the voters,” Maynard said.

Maynard said he would not withdraw his name and that he doubted that the voters would pass the change. In the event that the vote passes, he said he would withdraw himself.

Kotewa made a motion to approve the list of names to submit to the chief judge for charter commission appointments. In a roll call vote, the motion passed 4-1 with Lubenow opposed.