What feels like a year-long saga, concluded last night at the LaFollette City Council meeting.

 

Councilman Bill Archer made the motion that effective Feb. 5, Daniel Smith would be removed from his position as codes officer but be retained as a city employee. Smith is currently on sick leave and will move positions when he returns to work.

LaFollette City Administrator Jimmy Jeffries said the state had left them with no choice, because Smith didn’t receive his certification within 12 months of taking the position. The council voted to move Daniel Foster from the police department into the codes position effective Feb. 16 at a salary of $42,685. Foster has been filling in while Smith has been on leave.

The first reading of two ordinances was completed. Ordinance 2019-01 abandoning a portion of unopened street located within W. Kentucky Ave. The city declared the property as surplus with no value and conveyed to the property owners adjoining. Ordinance 2019-02 amended the city’s personnel policy definition of safety-sensitive position. The ordinance defines the position as involving emergency operations, safety of the public, operating machinery that would involve the safety of fellow employees, the collection, processing and/or distribution of monies and positions that have a key and direct role in an operation where impaired performance could result in significant error, incident, or accident affecting the health or safety of employees, and/or negatively impact the public, property or finances. These positions include, but are not necessarily limited to fire, police, emergency dispatchers, utility workers, sanitation workers and limited administration.

As Mayor Mike Stanfield was preparing to adjourn the meeting, Nick Thompson, husband of Council member Ann Thompson spoke up and announced he had a statement he wanted to read before the meeting was adjourned. Thompson read a 17-minute prepared statement to the mayor about the December meeting when Thompson was removed by police at the mayor’s request.

CLICK HERE to see the entire meeting and Thompson’s address to Stanfield.

The Beer Board convened after the council meeting approving a beer license for El Charro’s Grill.  The Grill is on East Central Avenue in LaFollette across from the LaFollette Medical Center and the Mt. Pisgah Baptist Church.  Council member Ann Thompson asked if the grill met the required 500-feet distance from a church.  Police Chief Bill Roehl was called upon to explain that it did at 569-feet, and that the distance is measured as a person would normally walk from one site to the other.  (WLAF NEWS PUBLISHED – 02/06/2019-6AM)