Newspaper Page Text
PAGE 10A PICKENS COUNTY PROGRESS THURSDAY. MAY 6. 2021
Jasper looking at pay in face of hiring challenges
Watch out for new stop signs - The new stop signs at the
intersection of Collins Road and Noah Drive (behind Wal-
mart) are now in action. The company charged with paint
ing the rumble strips has not made it to the area yet, so
drivers are asked to use caution in this area.
By Dan Pool
Editor
dpool@pickensprogress.com
The challenges of hiring
and maintaining a workforce,
something plaguing all of
north Georgia, was at the
center of discussion in the
Jasper City Council May
meeting Monday.
The council officially rec
ommended their city hall
staff prepare figures showing
what increasing salaries
would do to the city’s budget.
In discussion that wove
through several agenda items
including maintenance and
grass cutting, the “bear mar
ket of finding employees”
played a central theme.
Mayor Steve Lawrence
said at one point simply “hir
ing is difficult” and that the
city may be a little “behind
the curve” in pay and bene
fits which further hampers
them.
The study recommenda
tion called for city hall staff,
using new accounting soft
ware with more
projections/analysis capabil
ity, to see what effect a $ 1 an
hour raise for all employees
and a minimum of $13 an
hour across all positions
would have to their yearly
budget. Council member Jim
Looney, who put forward this
proposal as part of his admin
istrative committee, said
there may have to be “some
give and take.” He added that
they were looking at how the
COVID relief funds might
cover some of the costs.
City Manager Brandon
Douglas said he hopes better
pay and benefits “will be
more of a retention than a re
cruitment tool to maintain the
existing staff level, but it
might encourage someone to
join the team.”
He said since becoming
city manager (January 2019),
the need to create a pay scale
and address compensation
has been a priority. But, first
the drop in the funds returned
to local governments because
of changes in the auto tag
program hampered their fi
nancial ability to address this,
then the pandemic “exacer
bated the problem.”
Douglas said with the first
quarter of 2021 behind them,
they could now take some
action and he commended
the council for keeping it a
priority. Though he cautioned
it would be a large cost, “it
has been needed to be done
for some time.”
With the new accounting
software, the city finance de
partment could run some
models and be ready to report
to council in June. Douglas
said it might be possible to
enact measures in a mid-year
budget adjustment.
The dire need of employ
ees had already popped up
once in the meeting during a
discussion of plans to out
source grass cutting. But the
idea failed as only one com
pany offered a bid and they
were only interested in part
of the work.
Douglas said they had
about half the manpower
they needed for maintenance
and he hoped to outsource
the roughly 70 miles of road
way and 50 acres of grass at
parks and city buildings.
With only one expensive bid,
Douglas reported to council
it was not going to be a vi
able option.
Douglas said he had cal
culated a simple formula that
two additional employees
add about $40,000 each to
their budget, including pay,
benefit and other personnel
costs, so they could handle
the grass work at roughly
$80,000 a year. But the only
bid they received was for
$150,000 and only for the lo
cations, not the roads.
Mayor Steve Lawrence
noted it isn’t even as simple
as budgeting for more em
ployees as they can’t find
anyone for positions cur
rently open.
Council member Sonny
Proctor said he has talked to
people in the landscaping in
dustry and they say they
can’t expand as they can’t
hire.
Later in the meeting, re
garding the pay scale and
possible raises, Proctor made
vague statements, regarding
“misinformation” that has
been spread without identify
ing a source or explaining a
backstory. With Proctor ask
ing questions to Looney, they
made it clear that city hall
hadn’t paid any consultants
to develop pay scales as
Looney had done most of the
work while serving as in
terim city manager in 2018-
2019.
In other business:
• The council completed
action to create new dis
counted water and sewage
rates for low income fami
lies. They have offered dis
counts previously but needed
to adjust the figures and lev
els. Looney said this is “very
necessary for some citizens.”
• Signature events on the
calendar. The council heard
and were generally support
ive of some big “signature
events” coming later this
year. The events mentioned
included: July 4th (see re
lated article on page 1A);
they approved JeepFest
camping in Lee Newton Park
(September 2-5) handled by
N. Ga. Family Partners (June
Ash was their spokesperson);
they also heard that the same
group intends to hold a
Longtable on Main
fundraiser, closing part of
downtown on September
18th.
• City Manager Douglas
reported the status of March
25 storm cleanup projects -
Gennett Drive, where a cul
vert and section of road
washed away will be handled
as a turnkey job using EXP
Engineers, who are state
DOT pre-approved for work.
It will be another 60 to 90
days until it is complete.
State funding is expected to
pay for a large portion of this.
On the Long Swamp
Creek water intake area,
where a water line was
washed away, the city contin
ues to use a backup line to
bypass the damaged/missing
section. The costs and time-
frame of this large project are
still unknown. Douglas said
they will open bids for the
work on May 14th but he
was not sure how many con
tractors will be interested.
• Fire Chief Steve Roper
reported that the mold situa
tion at the Burton Street fire
station has been taken care of
and the firefighters returned
to their normal quarters.
Free Old Newspapers
Pick up on
Thursday &
-Friday only
9 a.m. til 12 p.m.
and 1 p.m. til 4 p.m.
at the Pickens
Progress office
94 N. Main Street
in Jasper
You may call ahead of time to
check availability, 706-253-2457
ROSE PARADE & LOS ANGELES TOUR
5 days, departs December 29, 2021
Los Angeles • Pasadena — Immerse yourself in the pomp
and circumstance of the 133rd Rose Parade with pre
parade viewing of the floats, dinner with the Tournament
of Roses Committee, and grandstand seating to see the
parade up close. You’ll enjoy 5 days in Los Angeles, and
enjoy one of the world’s most memorable New Year’s
celebrations.
promo code N7017
vacations 1-866-721-2490
occupancy plus f199 in taxes & lees. Single supplement and seasonal surcharges may apply. Add-on airfare available. Offers apply to new bookings only, made by 6/30/21.
Funniest Dang
Writer around
ah
T hear
Is Banjos
The Ballad of a Simple
Man
■■ M-
4Y?v r
Wit and Wisdom from
Appalachia
Caleb Smith
By. Cnleb Smith
$10 each or $15 a pair
Available at
Pickens Progress on Main Street
or look for them on Amazon
Contact your
Public Officials
State & U.S. Officials
Governor Brian Kemp
206 Washington Street
Suite 203, State Capitol
Atlanta, Ga. 30334
404-656- I 776
gov.georgia.gov
Represtative David Ralston
R — Georgia District 7
Speaker of the House
404-656-5020
David.ralston@house.ga.gov
State Representative Rick Jasperse
R — Georgia District I I
404-656-7153
Rick.jasperse@house.ga.gov
State Senator Steve Gooch
R- Georgia District 5 I
Majority Whip
404-656-9221
Steve .gooc h @se n ate .ga.gov
State Senator Chuck Payne
R — Georgia District 54
404-463-5402
Chuck.payne@senate.ga.gov
U.S. Senator Raphael Warnock
D — Junior Georgia Senator
B40D Dirksen Senate Office Building
Washington DC 205 10
(202) 224-3643
U.S. Senator Jon Ossoff
D — Junior Georgia Senator
825 B&C Hart Senate Office Building
Washington DC 205 10
(202) 224-3521
U.S. Congressman Andrew Clyde
R — Georgia’s 9th District
52 I Cannon House Office Building
Washington, DC 205 I 5- I 009
202-225-9893
Clyde.house.gov
(must go to website to fill out contact form)
U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene
R — Georgia District 14
1023 Longworth House Office Building
Washington, DC 205 15-1014
202-225-521 I
Pickens Officials
Board of Commissioners
• Kris Stancil, Chairman
kstancil@pickenscountyga.gov
• Becky Denney (East)
bdenney@pickenscountyga.gov
• Jerry Barnes (West)
jbarnes@pickenscountyga.gov
Board of Education
I 00 D.B. Carrol St., Jasper, Ga. 30 I 43
706-253-1700
• Tony Young
Interim Superintendent
tonyyoung@pickenscountyschools.org
• Sue Finley
Board Chair
District 4
suefinley@pickenscountyschools.org
•Tommy Gartrell
Board Member
District I
tommygartrell@pickenscountyschools.org
•Aaron Holland
Board Member
District 2
aaronholland@pickenscountyschools.org
•Tucker Green
Board Member
District 3
tuckergreen@pickenscountyschools.org
• Steve Smith
Board Member
District 5
stevesmith@pickenscountyschools.org
City of Jasper
200 Burnt Mountain Road, Jasper, GA 30143
706-692-9 I 00 cityhall@jasper-ga-us
• Mayor Steve Lawrence
slawrence@jasper-ga.us
• Mayor Pro Tern, Jim Looney
jlooney@jasper-ga.us
Council Members
• Jim Looney
• Sonny Proctor
• Kirk Raffield (raffield@jasper-ga.us)
• John Foust
• Anne Sneve
City Manager
• Brandon Douglas
bdouglas@jasper-ga.us