The Starkville Electric Department is shuffling its staff, with a goal of improving customer service and efficiency.
During Tuesday”s regular Board of Aldermen meeting, SED General Manager Terry Kemp presented a two-phase plan that will immediately change job descriptions and/or titles for four positions — two currently vacant — and alter job titles and descriptions for five positions currently filled, beginning Oct. 1.
The board approved the plan with a 5-2 vote; Aldermen Roy A. Perkins and Henry Vaughn voted against the measure following an executive session that lasted 45 minutes.
Kemp proposed the plan to offset the retirement of one employee and resignation of another; additionally, the aldermen had previously approved staff positions yet to be filled.
Perkins viewed the proposal as an unnecessary distraction to production and an attempt to secure future pay increases to match revised job titles and descriptions.
After opening a $1.97 million building in 2010, and with the current state of the economy, city departments need to show taxpayers they”re frugal, Perkins said.
“It”s an extravagant proposal,” he added.
Perkins also questioned the need to restructure the current hierarchy, especially in the administrative department.
“Why do we need two accountants to run the electric department?” Perkins said. “No other department has that.”
Kemp said there was a “possibility” SED could look for future funding for altered positions, but maintained the realignment would help the department adjust to current and future technological changes and future operational needs.
“Across the board there”s not really much change in staff,” Kemp said. “It might be a different function or a different position, but at the end, it should be pretty well balanced.”
All of Kemp”s organizational changes, which includes the immediate job advertisements for a new apprentice lineman and warehouse manager, were approved except for the call to eliminate a storekeeper position, currently held by John Toliver, who has worked for the city since 1997.
Perkins balked at the attempt to terminate the position without a detailed plan for the employee to find another position within a different city department.
“It”s good to know you have someone on the board who”ll stand up for what”s right,” Toliver said.
Solid waste ordinance
The board tabled an amended solid waste ordinance in the second public hearing held about the issue.
The proposed changes involve commercial waste — trees limbs, shrubs, weeds or anything growing — dimensions to increase from 6 to 8 inches in diameter and from 7 to 10 feet in length.
The only citizen to speak against the proposed changes was Milo Burnham, who questioned the “wordiness” of the ordinance and the vagueness of what waste qualifies under the revisions.
“I don”t understand why it”s OK to put out a tree limb and be within the ordinance but if I put out a 2-by-4 it will be in violation,” Burnham said.
Burnham also questioned the pickup window that states residents can”t put garbage bags by the curb until 5 a.m. and no later than 7 a.m. the day of pickup. Burnham felt the window was unfair because garbage may still sit on the curb for several hours before it is picked up.
However, the city doesn”t have designated times for pickup and residents can put out garbage canisters the night before scheduled pickup.
Failure to comply with the pickup window would result in a fine.
The ordinance changes will be presented for approval at the next board meeting.
In other business the board:
- Approved a motion for the city to negotiate a price for the property at the corner of Jackson Street and Highway 182, the proposed site of the new police building. The measure allows the city to secure a price for the land without purchasing it, as the board has yet to approve the project.
- Scheduled a budget hearing to be held during the next board meeting on Aug. 2. A copy will be made available online at cityofstarkville.org and will be available at City Hall on July 31.
- Approved the renaming of Reed, Garrard and Pat Station roads to Garrard Road from the eastern city limits to the western city limits, to help emergency responders. The board also approved the addition of a three-way stop on Garrard Road, where it intersects Reed Road and a traffic light where it intersects North Montgomery Street.
- Introduced Bobbie Jordan and Thalmus Morgan, two new employees in the city”s sanitation and environmental services department”s landscape division.
- Presented retirement plaques for eight city employees.
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