Aldermen go private to discuss job duties

A one-hour closed session shut out the public from witnessing the Clarendon Board of Aldermen’s deliberations on job descriptions and the city’s chain of command last Tuesday night, April 9.

Seventeen citizens were in attendance when the subject of city job descriptions came to the top of the board’s agenda. City Secretary Machiel Covey said the job descriptions were last updated in 2002 and that a lot had changed in 11 years.

Covey presented a draft of revised descriptions that she had worked on and told the board it was a “starting point” and that they could make whatever changes they liked. Alderman Debbie Roberts suggested the board should go in to executive session, but Mayor Larry Hicks and Covey both said they did not feel like that was necessary.

Roberts then said she had issues with several items but focused her attention on Covey’s position, particularly her roles as personnel officer, public investment officer, and emergency management coordinator.

“When did all this change?” Roberts asked.

Covey replied that some of her duties had been in place for a long period of time and others, such as emergency management coordinator, were duties she had volunteered for when no one else was doing them.

Alderman Roberts then said the emergency management coordinator had traditionally been done by whoever had held the position currently held by Public Works Director John Molder.

“It has always been one of the guys that did that,” Roberts said. “It has always been a man doing that job.”

Attention then turned to Covey’s role as personnel officer, which she said made sense because she does the payroll and that employees come to her when they have questions they can’t resolve through their supervisor. Covey said former city administrator Lambert Little had delegated that duty to her.

“But he didn’t have the authority to delegate his authority,” Alderman Abby Patten said.

Roberts agreed and said if employees have issues, they should bring them to the board.

Alderman Will Thompson said, in the absence of an administrator, that several things now fall to the mayor’s authority and reiterated his position that the council should not be involved in daily activities of the city.

Roberts then demanded an executive session, and the board adjourned to a second floor meeting room at City Hall amidst confusion among the citizens in attendance as to whether proper procedure was being followed.

When the board returned an hour later, Alderman Roberts said the city would keep the job descriptions “as they are,” and no action was taken on the subject. Further into the meeting when the city’s chain of command came up on the agenda, Mayor Hicks said that had also been “discussed upstairs” and that the city would just “follow policies.”

Also during the meeting, Roberts asked about the city administrator’s position.

“Where are we on that?” she asked.

“Given the budget, and the severance [with Little], there is no money for it,” Hicks said. “It’s something that as we get closer to the new budget year, we might start putting out feelers to see if there is any interest.”

Patten then asked if the board should reconsider the ordinance covering the administrator’s position, but Thompson said the ordinance “is not doing anything right now” and that is should be left alone.

Roberts and Patten also discussed employee raises, but Covey the city was locked in on its budget, and Thompson said the city should just “follow policy.”