Florence City Council
Lack of job descriptions worries mayor
Staff writer
Florence needs a concise set of job descriptions for its employees, mayor Bill Harris said during Monday’s city council meeting.
“Nobody that’s been hired falls inside these job descriptions,” he said.
Only three job descriptions were on file with the city, Harris said, with one for city clerk from 2003, city police officer from 2003, and one for foreman from 2018.
“I’m tired of the excuses and everything else when the stuff is here and it’s never been utilized,” he said.
Councilmen said they were unaware any job descriptions existed.
Laying out concise guidelines should be handled during Thursday’s work meeting, councilman Matt Williams said.
There was also no evidence that employee evaluations were ever done, Harris said.
“How do you decide who gets a raise, and how much, if there’s not even a single evaluation done on employees,” he said. “It doesn’t seem to stop everybody from getting their raises. Maybe they’re not getting the right amount of raise, maybe they’re getting too much.”
For the city to figure out what positions need to be filled or adjusted there need to be up-to-date descriptions, Harris said.
The council discussed in the past having maintenance employees acquire commercial driver’s licenses.
If the city wants employees to get CDLs then it should be listed with their job descriptions, Harris said.
“The first discussion we need to finish is when we discuss about all city maintenance employees acquiring their CDL Class B licenses,” he said. “We don’t have a drop dead date yet for that to happen.”
Councilmen decided to hire someone with a CDL to handle trash truck duties so city superintendent Terry Britton no longer has to. The full-time employee would handle other tasks for the city when not on trash duty.
Mayor Bill Harris said utility clerk Dana Gayle should work 9 a.m. to noon on Tuesdays and Thursdays, then allocate all other time to working for Britton.
The city office would close at noon Tuesdays and Thursdays. It would be open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday, Wednesdays, and Fridays, when part-time city clerk Heather Thiel is in the office.
Gayle would have to spend more time at the city office until the city’s new software is completely learned, Thiel said.
“It’s fine,” she said. “Right now with learning the software, it’s still busy. It’s busy all day.”
Part of the issue with where to place Gayle is whether she is a city office employee or a city utility employee.
“She’s not a city office employee,” councilman Mary Shipman said. “She is Terry’s employee.”
Which office Gayle was hired to work in was a topic that could not be agreed on.
“She was utility clerk,” community member Trayce Warner said. “She’s worked here for several years.”