PHOTO: At Monday night’s meeting of the Rainsville City Council, Councilman Marshall Stiefel voiced concerns over recent spending and the city’s priorities. (Tyler Pruett | Southern Torch)
By Tyler Pruett, Managing Editor
RAINSVILLE, Ala. — “I want to make a motion that we buy 20 new Christmas Lights for a total of $4800 and some change,” said Rainsville Councilman Brandon Freeman.
“Do those Christmas lights just go away, or do we lose those $5000 worth of lights every year due to attrition?” asked Councilman Marshall Stiefel about the motion.
“We [put] them on Government Deals and we sell them to other cities,” answered Freeman.
“We’re still losing money,” replied Stiefel.
“No you’re not losing money. There’s a lot of difference in the LEDs that’s why everyone is going to LED’s. It’s less power than the old Christmas lights,” said Councilman Ricky Byrum.
“I get that ya’ll are selling them, but they don’t bring as much as when we paid for them,” Stiefel said. “We’re still chunking out $5000 a year for Christmas lights.”
“If we are going to be buying these lights, do we not have a manger scene?” asked Stiefel.
“Neither does any other town, Marshall,” said Freeman.
Stiefel voted no on the measure, which carried despite his dissent.
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After the meeting, Stiefel offered comments regarding the debate. He made it clear that his opposition wasn’t against the Christmas Lights, but it was about spending $5000 yearly on new lights. Stiefel would also rather the money be spent on a nativity scene.
“I thought we just didn’t need to neglect the real reason for the season,” Stiefel said, in comments after the meeting. “Other towns have a nativity scene, Rainbow City is a good example.”
Towards the end of the meeting, Byrum explained a recent decision to purchase Thumbprint Scanner time clocks for all the city’s buildings. While the motion had passed, Stiefel voted against and voiced his concerns over the price tag, which is around $15,000.00.
“Right now we’re using our accountant four times a month. The first week in April, they should be installed, and the accountant won’t be trying to figure out everyone’s hours anymore. When they put in the thumbprint, it goes straight to the computer, it keeps your time,” Byrum explained.
“This will also cut our accounting fees back, because we’ll be going to a two week pay scale, because it will simply save us money. It’ll save us money for the accounting. These things will actually pay for themselves in about six to eight months,” he continued.
“We will implement that in the first of April,” added Byrum.
“Just to be clear, I just didn’t know that before the meeting,” Stiefel replied. “I just want everyone to know that at home. I didn’t know we were going to a bi-monthly pay scale. [The time clock subscription fee] is $3 a man, that was unsaid during the meeting. It’s a monthly subscription.”
While $3 per employee/per month doesn’t sound like much, the city has 50 employees during a normal month. During the three months that summer employees are included, the total number of employees is increased to roughly 70. Doing the math for 9 months with 50 employees, and three months with 70 employees, this brings the total to $1980.00 every year for the new system, in addition to the initial $15,000.00.
In a statement to the Southern Torch, Stiefel explained, “During the campaign, I heard a lot of concerns from citizens about wasteful spending, and I believe I was put here to be the voice of reason.”
