Flomaton Councilwoman Lillian Dean asked her fellow council members to either write a letter or pass a resolution to show that salaried employees with the town were not entitled to overtime pay.
The issue stems from when former Police Chief Bryan Davis retired and then demanded overtime pay from the town.
Councilman Buster Crapps said he agreed and asked how the town got into that situation before.
Mayor Dewey Bondurant, Jr., said the handbook covers salaried employees and said had the town fought Davis' claim it would have won but said it would have cost the town more in attorney fees than what Davis requested.
Councilman Roger Adkinson asked whether the town needed a resolution or whether it could amend the employee handbook.
Councilman Jim Johnson said the town needed to update the handbook and have every employee sign that they have received one.
Town Attorney Chuck Johns said he'd rather talk to each council member individually rather than discussing the issue in an opening meeting.
In other business, the council:
- Noted that nobody requested to be heard in either public forum held Monday via teleconference.
- Heard from Utilities Superintendent Shaun Moye, who asked the council to table any action on the purchase of security cameras at the town parks, saying he was still gathering figures.
Moye did note that the damage at Oaks Common Park on Martin Luther King Drive had been repaired.
- Issued complaints about speeding in different areas of the town. Police Chief Chance Thompson said officers are patrolling and writing tickets, but said he's trying to keep his officers as safe as possible due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Thompson said he is also trying to follow the protocol other chiefs of police are following in traffic control.
He said he can't tell an officer to write a ticket, but can tell them to enforce the law.
- Heard from Councilman Charlie Reardon, who was concerned about 15 emergency 911 hangups in the month, noting it was one about every other day.
Chief Thompson said when the dispatchers get a 911 hang up call and can verify the address an officer is sent to that location to make sure things are OK. He did say sometimes it's children playing with the telephone.
- Heard from Mayor Bondurant, who said Engineer Jeremy McMath told him the paving projects on Upper Creek Road and Carter Drive will start next week.
- Heard from Mayor Bondurant concerning what he felt were a lot of lies circulating about Flomaton and read a quote from Dr. Ben Carson that reads “We, the American people, are not each other's enemies. The enemies are those people behind the curtain jerking everybody's chains and trying to divide us up by age, by race and by income.”
“This is what's going on around the country,” Bondurant said. “Don't believe everything you hear.”
