News
Aldermen Vote to Censure Mayor Jimmy Poss (VIEW VIDEO OF MEETING HERE)
March 23, 2018
By: Dwayne Page
Smithville Mayor Jimmy Poss has been formally censured by the Aldermen for violating the city’s nepotism and hiring policies by putting his son Tony Poss on the payroll last September without the board’s approval.
During a special meeting held Thursday night at city hall, the aldermen took the action against the mayor which is basically a reprimand or expression of disapproval. The vote was 5-0.
In a separate move the aldermen voted 3 to 2 against asking that the city be reimbursed for the salary paid to Tony Poss during the six month period he was a part time employee. From September 1 to March 2, Poss’ gross amount of pay was $300 per week for a total of $8,100. Aldermen Gayla Hendrix and Shawn Jacobs voted to ask that the money be repaid. Aldermen Jason Murphy, Josh Miller, and Danny Washer voted against it. Had it been approved, the aldermen admitted that a reimbursement request probably could not be enforced.
As with the informal workshop last Thursday night, Mayor Poss again opted not to attend last night’s special meeting, the sole purpose of which was for the aldermen to decide whether to censure the mayor.
After calling to order the special meeting, Vice Mayor Jason Murphy recognized City Attorney Vester Parsley who read a prepared statement from the mayor who explained his actions in putting Tony to work at the golf course and swimming pool during the fall and winter.
“My hiring of my son to maintain the pool and equipment at the golf course has become an issue because of our charter and city ordinances. I want the council and the public to understand that my only goal was to safeguard and maintain the equipment located at the golf course. I want to assure you that it wasn’t a waste of the city’s funds because the equipment must be maintained and my son was the most logical choice. In hindsight, his hiring without council approving may have been a mistake. I have, however, hired other part time employees without the approval of the council in the past and at the time felt it was not necessary to seek the council’s approval,” wrote Mayor Poss.
Alderman Hendrix said while she is glad he issued a statement, the mayor’s response “didn’t really answer a lot of our questions. I think we were all hoping the mayor would be here tonight so we could communicate and ask some questions”.
“As we talked in the workshop this is in direct violation of the nepotism portion of our personnel policy by hiring an immediate family member and then hiring anyone without board approval,” said Alderman Hendrix.
Tony Poss had a ten year lease of the city’s golf course and swimming pool but he surrendered his lease of the facilities in August. The following month, the city entered into a one year contract with Riverwatch Golf & Resort to upgrade and maintain the golf course at a cost to the city of $74,115. It was also in September that Tony Poss became a part time city employee.
“We hired Riverwatch to repair and maintain the golf course at a substantial amount of money. Tony Poss had terminated his lease with the city. I don’t think his services were needed and we have no proof that anything had actually been done to earn the money that was paid out for the last six months,” Hendrix continued.
Meanwhile the aldermen raised new concerns Thursday night about other possible violations of the hiring policy. For example, Alderman Washer said he learned by accident that a cleaning service is now being paid to perform janitorial services at city hall instead of a part time custodian as had once been the practice. “I found out by accident by kind of being nosy, wondering what somebody was doing up here. I didn’t know anything about it. That’s when I was informed that we had contracted that out,” said Alderman Washer.
“We didn’t contract it out. That is the problem. This board didn’t know anything about it. We all thought we had a custodian. After the last meeting we were walking down the stairs and asked if there was somebody here to unlock the door so we could get out. One of the employees said we don’t have a custodian anymore. We have a cleaning service. I thought how can we have a cleaning service when it has not been brought before the board? Again that is a complete violation of the charter. This is as troubling to me as the other alleged violations at the pool. More and more is happening at city hall without this board knowing about it,” said Alderman Jacobs.
In response to questions concerning the city hall janitorial services, City Administrator Hunter Hendrixson explained that “we had a full time (custodian) in the past but when she retired we used a couple of part time people several years ago that didn’t quite work out. Under our repairs and maintenance line item (of the budget for city hall) we have $35,000 budgeted which I assume (this service) falls under for the maintenance part because we haven’t actually hired an employee. We have a gentlemen who comes in and does the maintenance two to three times a week. He buffs our floors and empties our trash,” said Hendrixson.
Before the vote on censure, the aldermen discussed whether to include in the motion a request for reimbursement to the city for the money paid to Tony. Both Aldermen Miller and Murphy said they had recently spoken to unbiased sources who told them they had seen Tony at the golf course/swimming pool when he was supposed to have been working there.
Alderman Murphy said he had reservations about asking that the money be paid back when there are unanswered questions about how much work he may have done there.
“Do we know how much work was done? To me that is a real gray area,” said Alderman Murphy.
In response, Alderman Hendrix suggested that Alderman Murphy’s point was moot because Poss’ hiring was a violation of the nepotism policy anyway and the board had not approved it.
Both Aldermen Hendrix and Jacobs said constituents have told them they would like for the city to be reimbursed. Alderman Washer agreed but moved that the censure go forward without a request for reimbursement.
“I know the public would like to have some money back. I hear the same thing you do but I don’t know how we can prove what was done (work) and how much money should be paid back if any,” said Alderman Washer.
Washer then moved to censure the mayor. Alderman Miller offered a second to the motion. The vote was unanimous.
Alderman Hendrix then moved to request that the money paid to Tony Poss be repaid to the city. Alderman Jacobs seconded the motion. The motion failed on a 3 to 2 vote.
Budget Committee Recommends New Pay Plan for Ambulance Service Employees (VIEW PROPOSED PAY PLAN AND SHIFT SCHEDULE HERE)
March 22, 2018
By: Dwayne Page
Now that county general employees and sheriff’s department staff have been given pay raises, the county commission will consider passage of a proposed new wage scale for ambulance service workers at the next regular monthly meeting on Monday, March 26.
(CLICK PDF LINK BELOW TO VIEW PROPOSED PAY PLAN FOR DEKALB AMBULANCE SERVICE EMPLOYEES AS RECOMMENDED TO THE COUNTY COMMISSION BY THE BUDGET COMMITTEE)
510 PAYSCALE LOCKED March 22,2018
(CLICK PDF LINK BELOW TO VIEW PROPOSED 24/72 SHIFT SCHEDULE FOR DEKALB AMBULANCE SERVICE EMPLOYEES AS RECOMMENDED TO THE COUNTY COMMISSION BY THE BUDGET COMMITTEE)
Last month, the commission voted to ante up more money to give county general and sheriff’s department employees pay raises retroactive to January 1 but a proposal to increase pay for EMS staff under a plan proposed by Second District Commissioner Joe Johnson was not approved.
Upset by the move, Johnson announced his resignation from the commission as of March 1 in protest.
The budget committee convened before and has met since that February county commission session to consider proposals offered to address the pay of EMS personnel, who were last given a wage increase of 4% two years ago.
After reviewing plans presented in a previous meeting by EMS Director Hoyte Hale and a second plan by Commissioner Johnson, the budget committee Thursday night voted 4-1 to recommend to the county commission a proposal by 4th district commissioner Jonathan Norris. Committee members Wayne Cantrell, Larry Summers, Jerry Adcock, and Jack Barton voted in favor. Jimmy Midgett voted against the proposal apparently preferring another plan.
According to Norris, his plan would cut down on overall EMS overtime hours but would raise each employee’s hourly pay by double digit percentage increases.
“The current pay plan does not have a baseline. Meaning a defined starting point based on Certification and years of service. It also does not have a defined starting and yearly wage chart,” said Commissioner Norris.
“The plan I have proposed, and the budget committee has recommended to the county commission for consideration works like this:
•It will establish a baseline and structure for recognizing certifications and years of service as pay enhancements.
•It will schedule as a 24/72 (24 hours on duty/72 hours off duty) with the first pay period consisting of (2) 48 hour weeks and the second pay period consisting of one 48-hour week and one 24-hour week.
•It will give a double-digit percentage hourly pay raise to each current employee of the EMS
•It reduces the amount of overtime hours employees must work each year from 824 to 312. It reduces the number of regular hours an employee has to work each year from 2080 to 1872
•It will give 10 days off the first two week pay period and 11 days off the second two week pay period, or roughly 21 days per month off.
•Each employee will have off (3) Fridays, (3) Saturdays (3) Sundays per month
•There will also be a pay increase each year for every employee.
•Years 1-4 is a 2% increase each year
•Year 5 is a 6% longevity increase
•Years 6-9 is a 2% increase each year
•Year 10 is a 5% longevity increase.
•Years 11-15 is a 1.5% increase each year
•Year 16+ is a 1% increase each year
•Current employees will automatically get the increase on their scale for service and certification.
•.50 cent increases on the hour are included for shift supervisors
“In order to establish this baseline and pay scale the schedule must change and while all employees will have double digit percentage increases hourly, some employees would not make as much annually as they did in the previous year 2017. This is due to reduction in hours from 2904 hours per year scheduled to 2184 scheduled. But their pay would continue to increase every year of service with fewer hours required.” explained Commissioner Norris.
“Other employees would receive significant increases annually versus 2017 (the current pay scale) and their pay would continue to grow each year while others would stay roughly the same for one year and then increase each year thereafter according to the established scale,” said Norris.
“The idea is to put in a system that balances the pay scale and increases the hourly wages for the EMS personnel. This is something that allows them to increase and make more money by getting increases on years of service and certifications and not having to rely solely on extra overtime to make their living. One that will allow more home and family time for those that want that and the ability to work in conjunction with other places if that is what they prefer. I believe it will also aid in the attraction of new employees and help with the retention of existing employees. It also has to be fiscally smart and not place a huge burden on the citizens of DeKalb county with huge budget jumps. This is something that we can plan for and budget for each year. It is a measurable scale that allows us to realize its true impact and still continue to increase wages that are more than deserved and needed to provide for the citizens of the county and all the Emergency services personnel. Like anything, this may not be perfect, but it does give us the chance to be financially responsible and do more for those that deserve it.” Norris continued.
If the plan should be accepted by the commission, the budget committee has recommended a 3% bonus be added for EMS employees (retroactive to January 1, 2018 thru to the effective date of the raises) in addition to the pay raises (which would not be retroactive). If the proposed plan should fail, the committee has recommended that the 3% bonus be given for January 1, 2018 through to June 30th, 2018 but no new pay scale would be considered until preparation for the new budget for 2018-19.
Dump Truck Loaded with Gravel Overturns
March 22, 2018
By: Dwayne Page
A Cookeville man was injured after his dump truck loaded with gravel overturned Thursday morning on Highway 96 (Dale Ridge Road) near Center Hill Dam.
Trooper Jason Cobble of the Tennessee Highway Patrol said Thomas Thurman was driving a 2017 Mack Dump Truck for Team Enterprises of Cookeville and lost control while trying to negotiate a curve. The truck rolled over on its right side and skidded several feet in the highway before coming to a stop. The load of gravel spilled out onto the shoulder of the road.
A bystander helped Thurman from the truck. He was transported by DeKalb EMS though his injuries were not believed to have been serious. The DeKalb County Sheriff’s Department was also on the scene.
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