SOUTH PITTSBURG, Tenn. – When an emergency happens that creates problems along city streets, no one is designated in South Pittsburg to answer the call.
Mayor Jane Dawkins said the South Pittsburg City Commission discussed “a need” for a policy that would govern that kind of situation in a recent workshop.
Sometimes street department workers have to go out after hours to address emergency issues such as a tree falling or flooding, City Administrator Sammy Burrows said.
“We actually are going to designate a schedule of people in teams of two that are on call,” he said.
Burrows said he contacted other area towns about their policies. He said he took the “majority” of the proposed policy for South Pittsburg from Athens, Tenn., and “kind of made it our own.”
However, some board members are not satisfied with it.
“When we discussed this in the workshop, we discussed it as being an incentive and encouragement for the employees to respond,” Commissioner Jeff Powers said. “When I read through the policy, it seemed to me that it was very burdensome to the employees.”
Of the city’s six street department employees, two would be on call for a week at a time, he said. That means those workers would be on call every three weeks.
“They have to have a city-issued cellphone, an alternative number, and they have to respond within 30 minutes, or they’re subject to disciplinary action,” Powers said. “To me, I just think that’s overly burdensome for any employee to be restricted in that manner.”
The policy contains no wording that requires a supervisor to be present.
“I think the supervisor should be present and one employee, and that’s my take on it,” Powers said. “I think it needs some revision, myself.”
Commissioner Paul Don King agreed the proposed policy needed major revisions and said the street department’s supervisor is “paid extra” and “that’s why.”
“He drives a [city] vehicle home, we pay his gas, and pretty well, I think he should be the guy that should be on call,” he said. “We’re asking a guy that makes $15 an hour to be responsible to stay on call for the city. We’re paying another guy $40,000 or $50,000 a year to turn [that employee] loose.”
The South Pittsburg Board of Water Works & Sewers and Marion Gas Systems already have similar policies in place, but those workers are paid to be on call regardless of whether they have to respond to a situation.
According to the current proposal, South Pittsburg would not pay its employees unless they were called out to an emergency.
Dawkins said the board would examine the policy further and “tweak it a little bit” at a future workshop before reintroducing it at an upcoming meeting.
Ryan Lewis is based in Marion County. Contact him at ryanlewis34@gmail.com.