Last week, the LaFayette City Council unanimously approved hiring former 18-year City Councilman and local businessman Max Morrison, who owns Flex-A-Bed, as interim city manager.
According to Mayor Neal Florence, Morrison will serve the city for free.
"He came to the city and offered his services but said he didn't want to be paid," said Florence. "He will probably work for about an hour a day. That will probably be enough time to come in and handle minor problems."
The city will continue paying former City Manager Frank Etheridge's salary through the end of May. Although the city is in the process of permanently filling the position, Florence said there is no real timeline on that action or a goal set for when the Council plans to hire a full-time city manager.
"We've got to fill that position or we're going to have a lot of people with acid reflux problems," said Florence, who also owns a local business, Medi-Thrift Pharmacy. "We've had a lot of resumes come in."
He said Councilmen Andy Arnold and Wayne Swanson are currently heading up the hiring process by sorting through the resumes that come in and honing them down to a select group of somewhere between 10-20 applicants.
"We will all be a part of the interview process," said the mayor.
In the meantime, he said he is confident that Morrison will be an asset to the city until a permanent city manager is hired.
"He knows how we operate, our process and the city," said Florence. "He lives here and has a lot of qualifications."