After more than a year of dispute in the Alabama Legislature, a bill that allowed the Russellville City Council to raise the salary of the Russellville Civil Service Board finally passed earlier this year.
At its Tuesday night meeting, the council approved an ordinance to set the compensation for its Civil Service Board at $300/month per member, an increase of $100/month from the current compensation.
Rep. Johnny Mack Morrow introduced H.B. 511 this year after a similar bill died because of disagreement whether the substance of the legislation changed before it was presented to Morrow.After a public meeting last year, Morrow determined that most Russellville residents wanted the council to have the authority to set the board's compensation at a level it felt appropriate rather than the bill stating a specific dollar amount.The pay raise will take effect October 1, 2017.
In other action, the council:
--Approved a resolution allowing for an adjustment in the rate of pay for certain employees to account for differences in length of their service. After the city adopted new pay chart schedules and grades earlier this year, changing the previous method of longevity raises, some of the younger workers were making close or equal to what more experienced employees were earning, according to Mayor David Grissom. The resolution raised the salary of employees affected by this with Bryan Sutton, Bradley Pounders, Grant Tarascou, Brett Evans, Timothy Balcom, Michael G. Miller and Scotty Lowery moving up one step in pay and Jacob Tompkins and Danny Reece Coan moving up two steps.
--Approved an expenditure of $2,500 to the Liberty Learning Foundation for the Super Citizen Program curriculum to be presented in Russellville City Schools. The program includes a kickoff event starring Libby Liberty and is geared toward civic education.--Approved an employment contract with Sammy Washington to serve as a School Resource Officer to replace Cary Hitt, who retired last school year.
--Approved the purchase of a new telephone system for the Russellville Police Department and the Russellville Municipal Court from SmartFox Solutions in the amount of $14,688.46. Payment will be made from: Corrections Fund ($7,343.43), Driving School ($3,673) and MJA Fund ($3,672).--Approved the waiver of the rental fee for the A.W. Todd Centre on October 24, 2017, for use by Russellville Middle School for its football banquet.
--Approved abatement of nuisances at 606 Gandy, owned by Jerry F. Scott, for failure to clean yard and remove furniture from the front porch, refusal to clean the property, failure to remove a vehicle on blocks on the property and failure to pick up junk, trash and litter in the front yard.
--heard from Tim and Jody Hollimon regarding placement of a mobile home on property on Filmore Street. The Hollimons told the council a mobile home had been on the property since 1987 and they purchased a used mobile home to replace the existing one and weren't given authority by the city building inspector to do so. City Attorney Danny McDowell advised them to file a petition asking the Compatibility Review Committee to meet and consider their request.
