The Russellville City Council met at City Hall on Monday night to discuss and approve a number of items on the agenda.
One of the first actions taken by the council was approving a resolution commending Russellville firefighter Shane Mansell on his heroic actions on the weekend of March 11.
While working at a bass fishing tournament in Guntersville, Mansell was alerted that a man was having chest pains and, when on the scene, quickly realized the man – Phil Powell – was having a heart attack. Following his training, Mansell leapt into action and performed CPR on Powell, measures that proved to be lifesaving.
Powell and his family were in attendance when the council and mayor presented Mansell with the resolution.
“It’s a privilege to be here to see Shane receive the honor,” Powell said. “It’s great to see Shane get the recognition he deserves. He saved my life and it means the world to me and my family to be here today.”
Mansell, who has been with the fire department for 17 years, said he does not consider himself a hero, but was honored to have receive the recognition.
“It’s a little surreal, honestly,” he said. “It’s an honor to receive (the resolution), but this isn’t why I do what I do. I’d much rather be in the back of the room. On that day, the training kicked in and I did what I had to do. I’m just glad Mr. Powell is here with me today.”
Following the standing ovation for Mansell from those in attendance, the council moved on to other items on the agenda. The next major item was the audit of the city for the 2015-16 fiscal year.
Van Stack of Stack & Blair, LLC. briefed the council and mayor on the findings of the audit. Stack focused mainly on the Government Activities section of the audit.
In the Government Activities portion, Stack reported the city’s net position to be $92,998 in the red. However, the debt was due to the reported net pension liability of over $6.2 million, which is a figure that could fluctuate in the future.
“According to Mr. Stack we got a good, clean audit,” Russellville mayor David Grissom said. “We were in the red in net position but that’s because of the net pension figure. That number isn’t necessarily what we’ll pay out and it could decrease in the future.”
Overall, Grissom said he was satisfied with the audit Stack provided.
“The department heads have worked hard to help get us to this point,” he said. “When I took over as mayor I told the departments we were going to start going by the budget and living by it. They’ve done a good job of that. I think now we’re in a good position to do some things, including refinancing some bonds. Overall, when the finances are in good shape, the mayor is happy.”
Other agenda items approved by the city council include:
- Issued ordinance to increase grave opening and closing fees.
- Approving contract with Civil Group, LLC. to perform sidewalk project on Franklin Street and Lawrence Street.
- Approved a spring Parks and Recreation Department contract.
- Approved request from Karen Thompson to waive the rental fee at the A.W. Todd Centre for the Relay for Life Survivor Dinner on April 25, 2017.
