Lenoir City merges departments

“I just don’t understand that why you want to combine them together like that,” Johnson said during the meeting. “I think the parks and rec ought to be separate myself because they have different jobs they do than what the street department does.”

The change is effective immediately, Tony Aikens, Lenoir City mayor, said. He hopes the merger will allow for better productivity and accountability.

“More productivity and I want to take it in a new direction,” Aikens said. “I want to be able to instead of calling the parks and rec to go fix a toilet because someone’s broken it or because it’s broken, I want to be able to call one department and let Mr. (JJ) Cox send out who he sees fit to fix that issue or any other issues, vice versa. I want to be able to cross-train those men in what they do, and we’re not hiring a director, which saves us $75,000. I hope that people respect that.”

Aikens said the merger will have no additional impact.

“It’s just simply because of manpower,” Simpson said. “... They’re not going to be separated. The parks guys may be working on streets a week at a time and vice versa. I think it just makes sense to try to merge and then we wouldn’t have to replace Mr. (Steve) Harrelson’s position.”

The decision comes after Steve Harrelson, former parks and recreation director, left the city to become Loudon County circuit court clerk in December. Making the change has been a topic of discussion for years, Aikens said, noting now the timing is right.

By not filling Harrelson’s position, Maggie Hunt, assistant city recorder, in a follow-up interview said there should be about $100,000 savings in salary and benefits.

JJ Cox, city street superintendent, will now report to Don White, director of safety, Aikens said. Zack Cusick, parks and recreation program manager, will report to Cox.

“Fortunately for us we’re still a small city and, of course, (the) administration door is always open to employees, but I want them to go through the chain of command like they should,” Aikens said.

Aikens believes White is up to the task of helping with two more city departments. White is not expected to receive a pay raise.

“Don has done a fantastic job with the employees he has under him,” Aikens said. “I think that the police department and the codes and the fire department, we have excellent employees in all three of those departments. I do believe that when we made that move several years ago that it was for the better, and city council and I are very pleased with how the public safety director runs those departments, and I want someone working with JJ on a day-to-day basis if needed to make sure that we’re getting what we’re supposed to be getting.”

Councilman James Brandon questioned if the city should use a 90-day trial period to evaluate if the merge would work.

Simpson said a year would be needed.

“Before we even look at it again is the fact that we need everything to be able to get a cycle, like having ball seasons, and all that stuff and see if the street department people along with the parks and recreation can work together and try to do as good or a better job,” Simpson said.

Brandon had hesitation about the merger even before it was put to a vote.

“Merging one is a good thing, but you can’t have two men bumping heads when you’re trying to get continuity into a department,” he said. “Something needs to be done to get these guys to be on the same level of work, not one working against the other one. I was in supervision for about 25 years in utilities and we didn’t work that way and it don’t need to work that way.”

In other news, Lenoir City Council:

• Approved use of the Sourcewell bidding process for purchase of playground equipment for Rock Springs Park. Cusick said the equipment was a budgeted item. Council also approved use of Sourcewell for the street department to purchase six dump trucks and one backhoe from a diesel grant.

• Declared an old golf cart and old John Deere Gator as surplus property in the parks and recreation department.

• Passed the city purchasing committee’s recommendation regarding a low bid Fleenor Security quote/agreement for a security system at The Venue at Lenoir City for $1,108.02 for installation. There will also be a monthly service and monitoring fee of $39.99.

• Allowed purchase of a used vehicle in the police department of $25,842.30 paid out of the DEA drug fund.

• Passed the purchasing committee’s recommendation to enter into a lease/purchase agreement with Lenoir City Utilities Board for a previously used customer service building at 206 East Depot St., to be used as a fire station. The agreement will need to be approved by the board and/or city council when in hand, Aikens said. Council also passed going to bid for a metal building and other renovations to the facility.

• Filled one vacancy at the police department with James Pistole.

• Filled two vacancies at the fire department with Joseph Bivens and Matthew Pointer.

• Appointed Brandon as city council representative on the employee sick leave bank committee.

• Canceled the Jan. 28 meeting.

• Closed a bank account at SouthEast Bank connected to the 9th Judicial Drug Task Force. Council also closed a bank account at United Community Bank in reference to the War Memorial Building fund that the city set up during the grant process.