VIDEO: Henagar Council discusses remodeling and employee grievance

VIDEO: Henagar Council discusses remodeling and employee grievance

PHOTO: Mayor Lee Davis and the Henagar City Council receive reports from the department heads. (Tyler Pruett | Southern Torch)

By Tyler Pruett, Managing Editor 

tyler@southerntorch.com

HENAGAR, Ala.— (Video at the Bottom)  The Henagar City Council met on Monday, October 23rd for their regularly scheduled meeting. The council meets on the second and fourth Monday of each month at 5 pm.

After opening the meeting and approving the minutes from the last meeting, the council and Mayor Lee Davis discussed doing some needed remodeling at the Henagar Public Library. The city is looking to replace the carpeting and remove a wall in the children's area of the library. The work on the walls will be done before the carpeting, as to not dirty up the new flooring. The library is also currently in the process of repainting.

The mayor also explained that the library doesn't have much in terms of funds, and the city would need to supplement from the general fund for the project:

"They are going to start doing some fundraisers and there are some grants that they are applying for now. Things are looking a whole lot better than they were a month or so ago. For the time being they don't have the money so we'll have to pay half that if we do it," said Davis.

The mayor also explained that the central heating and cooling unit in the back part of the library is shot. He explained that Southern Heating and Cooling had come out, worked on the unit, and looked at the problem. It was discovered that previously there was one large unit for the whole building, and this was replaced with two smaller units after it had went out. Davis also explained that the city would like to replace the two smaller units with one large one.

The work on the library air conditioning will be done before next summer, with the heating being fixed before the winter months.

The mayor and council then discussed and approved a motion on a project to replace the old carpet at city hall for $1694.69. 

The council then went into executive session for approximately 15 minutes to discuss a grievance with a city employee.

After returning from executive session, the city selected an employee to serve on a, "grievance committee;" as per city policy. In this situation, the city selects an employee to represent them on the committee to discuss the grievance, and the individual who filed the grievance also selects an employee. The employees then get together and select a third, who hears both arguments and makes a ruling on the situation.

The city council move to appoint Librarian Donna Carlin to represent the city on the grievance committee for the situation.

The council then checked with the department heads for an update. Henagar Police Chief Randell Smith reported that everything was well in the department, and the new body cameras were working.

Fire Chief Jeff Crump said that the department had a class last Monday night with two certified fire college instructors. The department is also in the middle of another three week class. Henagar will also be conducting "Pump Tests" the 11th and 12th of November. The 18th and 19th of November, all the Henager fire officers will be taking a MIMS 300 class for those two days. The class can only be taught in the classroom, and Crump mentioned making that the town is covered for those two days. The class will be taught at DeKalb County Ambulance Service.

Crump also said that the department will be opening bids for a new tanker truck on the first Monday night in November, and he would like for as many council members be present as possible.

Public Works supervisor Byron Shewbert updated the council on paving projects. Shewbert said that they had gotten spots fixed on Brookfield Circle, in front of the library, and had started on Clayton Drive. Crews has had problems with the feeder hopper stopping up on the paving equipment and had ordered an industrial vibrator to fix the problem. The department is also working on the library and replacing one of the coil packs on a city police vehicle.

Before adjourning, the city moved to pay the monthly bills.

In the previous meeting, (October 9) the Henagar City Council passed their FY 2018 Budget. Henagar’s budget is broken into 3 categories: General Fund, Sewer, & Special Revenues.

The General Fund budget consists of revenue and expenditures: The city is anticipating $1,370,690.00 in revenues, and expenditures totaling $1,245,870.00 for Fiscal Year 2018.

The proposed surplus can go toward the match on a possible grant to pave roads in the city. Henagar City Clerk Marla Fairley said that there may be more than anticipated in terms of revenue, due to the difficulties calculating what Henagar’s recently enacted alcohol sales will bring in.

“We have some roads in town that are in pretty bad shape, so any supluses in revenue will be used for that,” said Fairley.

The sewer budget is as follows:Revenue: $226,100.00, Expenditures: $141,024.49

The proposed surplus can be applied to the match on another grant for a sewer treatment plant expansion. Fairley also said the city’s sewer system is nearing capacity, and this will have to be addressed in the near future.

The Special Revenues budget consists of revenue in the total of $79,145.00 and expenditures of $79,145.00.

The next meeting of the Henagar City Council will be held on Monday, November 13 at 5 pm.

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