By NICK GOSNELL
Hutch Post
HUTCHINSON, Kan. — The Hutchinson City Council has decided to lower its ending balance to allow for the full-time Human Relations Officer.
Aubrey Abbott Patterson with the Hutchinson Community Foundation said Tuesday the Foundation wants to help be sure the position has the resources it needs, but that the arrangement will be different than what was previously reported. Instead of the Community Foundation making up the difference in salary, the goal would be to use the additional hours of the Human Relations Officer to support proactive programming to get groups together to alleviate conflicts that result in discrimination hopefully before they happen.
"The officer needs more hours in the week to be able to do that well," Patterson said. "They also need money to be able to provide that kind of programming. I think that's probably the role for the Community Foundation. If you're willing to fund the full salary and benefits, we would provide funding of $20,000 a year for the next three years from the Fund for Hutchinson, which is a fund that hundreds of people have given to over 30 years. We think this is the time when she should use this money in this way to support the people of Hutchinson, so we're ready to do that if you're ready to do it."
Council member Jon Daveline, who had appeared to be reticent to making the change in previous public meetings, came around to be the one seeking consensus on reducing the ending balance to make the change happen.
"We would direct the city manager to proceed with restructuring the 2021 budget," Daveline said. "That would then allow for the creation of a full-time Human Relations Officer, including benefits."
The new full-time position would start January 1, 2021 and the difference in the salary and benefits would likely be around $30,000.