The Russellville City Council met on Monday, June 5 to discuss a number of items on the agenda.
During the work session, members from the Human Resources Consulting Government and Economic Development Institute at Auburn University met with the council and citizens and presented a report of their progress in regards to developing policies and procedures for city departments and employees.
The institute has already been working with the city of Russellville since 2015 to improve the city’s employee management system.
“They’ve come in and really done a great job,” said Russellville mayor David Grissom. “These updates are something that we’ve needed for a long time. It’s really a rejuvenation and revamp of the whole system.”
The improvements included implementing a new pay plan, which the city council has already approved, and re-writing the job description for every position.
“We knew we had a problem with our pay plan and with their help we’ve gotten it to a level where it should be where it’s competitive with others in our area,” Grissom said. “They re-wrote every job description for every position in the city and within those job descriptions they’ve made sure that we’re compliant with all state and federal laws.”
The new pay plan increased the hourly rate for nearly all city employees. Grissom said no one’s pay decreased as a result of the new pay plan.
The next step will be updating the policies and procedures for each department.
Maria Tamblyn, who presented for the institute at the council meeting, said the updates and changes, specifically to the policies and procedures, are meant to save the city money in the long term as the changes will make the city less susceptible to lawsuits and other legal issues. Like the job descriptions and pay plan, the policy and procedures update will ensure Russellville is in compliance with all laws.
“It’s a process that takes a long time to get done, but when we’re through we’ll be a lot better off than we were,” Grissom said.
Other actions taken by the council:
- Retroactively passed 2017 Russellville High School Baseball Championship Resolution
- Passed resolution in remembrance of St. Paul CME pastor Eric Williams
- Accepted resignation of police officer Daniel Cruise from the Russellville Police Department
- Hired Phillip Clay Wilson, Macy Ann Hughes, Antonio Melecio and Dakota Demastus as RPD patrol officers
- Appointed Matt Cooper to Russellville Industrial Development Board
- Approved agreement between Russellville City Schools and City of Russellville for Afterschool Care Program for 2017-18
