By Marla Jones, Reporter • marla@southerntorch.com
RAINSVILLE, Ala. — (Full Video on our Facebook) The Rainsville City Council held their regularly scheduled meeting on Monday, September 3.
DeKalb County Circuit Clerk Pam Simpson addressed the Council explaining the many responsibilities of the Circuit Clerk’s office. She spoke on the millions of dollars going through her office and addressed the audits that take place. She also thanked the Rainsville City Council and City Court system for working with her office by subsidizing her employees through court costs.
Betty Holcomb, the city accountant, presented the Council with a proposed budget for the 2018-19 fiscal year. She explained that it is a general fund budget only and would be a three percent increase over the 2017-18 budget. It does not include a three percent cost of living expense for city employees. It produces a $70,000 surplus. She went on to say to give the city employees a three percent increase, it would equal $63,000.
Southern Torch reached out to Mayor Rodger Lingerfelt and asked in his opinion, should the $70,000 surplus be used to fund the three percent cost of living expense for the employees.
“It is highly possible [that] there is more than enough to cover that”, he said. “But we will not make that decision until December.”
The mayor stated during the meeting that all councilmembers should review the proposed budget over the next two weeks, as it must be voted on in the month of September. There will not be a special called meeting to discuss the budget, “unless an issue comes up,” he said.
Mayor Lingerfelt also gave an update on the George Wallace Bridge. He stated that it should be open for traffic at the end of the week.
Rainsville Police Chief Kevin Smith addressed the Council regarding their free sexual harassment and rape prevention class, which will be held on Saturday, September 8.
In other business, the Council:
• Hired Eli Tree Service for $3800 to clean the right-of-ways on the Chavies Bridge Project
• Accepted the resignation of police officer Anthony Austin as of 9/10/18 due to family issues
• Gave $1,500 to the Rainsville Fire Department for Fire Prevention Month, which is the month of October. Fire Chief Willimac Wright also stated that we are still under a no burn order until the end of October.
• Empowered the mayor to seek bids for a new dump truck (using the same program as the DeKalb County Commission for their buy back program. The Council agreed to try it for one year.)
• Stated the need to hire a garbage truck driver
The next meeting of the Rainsville City Council will be on Monday, September 17 with a workshop beginning at 4:15pm and the meeting at 5pm.
