The City of Indianola will not be hiring an executive assistant for the mayor, a code enforcement officer nor an IT specialist, at least for now.
These positions were discussed during a special call meeting last week.
On a 3-2 vote last Thursday, the Board of Aldermen nixed the notions of those positions.
Advertisements for one of the positions had been running in The Enterprise-Tocsin, but after a lengthy discussion during the special call meeting, the majority of the aldermen did not get on board.
City Clerk Angela Goodwin presented the board with the vacancies that City Hall was seeking to fill. An executive assistant, code enforcer and IT tech were among the positions to be advertised.
A lot of questions were posed on whether some of these jobs were needed and how they would fit within the budget.
Ward 2 Alderman Darrell Simpson questioned the need for a code enforcer, citing deficiencies in fine collections.
Goodwin said she had discussions with CPA Dr. Cynthia Rhodes, and they had to bring the salary of code enforcer from $35,000 to $28,000.
Indianola Mayor Ken Featherstone explained that right now there aren’t any tickets being written.
He also stated that enforcers would help cut down on the number of abandoned cars, and tire shops that have unused tires sitting around outside as well.
If someone was to be hired, this could at least give the city some leeway to start with, Featherstone said.
Ward 4 Alderman Marvin Elder said that having an enforcer will bring in money for the city as well.
“If you got somebody coming in for the task that you are asking for, you should see a difference,” he said. “The county is seeing a difference.”
“I’ve been with the city for a while,” Ward 1 Alderman Gary Fratesi stated. “We’ve never had an executive assistant or an IT tech.”
He also asked if the budget could support these positions.
Rhodes, who was present by phone, assured them that all the jobs could be supported within the budget. Fratesi still posed the question as to why they needed an executive assistant.
Featherstone explained that there are a lot of calls that he can’t get to during the day.
“A lot of our citizens are calling and they’re not getting a warm body,” he said.
He believes if there was an assistant a lot of these problems would be resolved.
Featherstone and Goodwin also provided the same explanation for the IT tech.
Ward 3 Alderman Ruben Woods also questioned would there be enough work for an IT specialist to do around the city.
Goodwin explained that previously her computer programs were down all day because of technical problems. She stated that if a specialist had been available, the issue could have been resolved sooner.
According to her, there is also more than enough work for an executive assistant as well.
“Every position is justified,” she said.
There were motions for the positions of executive assistant and the IT tech.
With a vote of 3-2, three nays on both motions came from Fratesi (who was present by phone), Simpson and Ward 5 Alderman Sam Brock Jr. Woods and Elder voted yes on both motions.
Neither motion was passed.
