At Walker County Commissioners’ Court regular session this week, commissioners discussed taking action on the appointment of Chance Gardner to perform the duties of a Fire Marshall for the purpose of evaluating applications for mass gatherings in Walker County. There was an issue recently with a mass gathering. Firefighter Chance Gardner would be paid $2,000 to do the job.
Commissioner Bill Daugette raised some objections to the move:
County Auditor Patricia Allen commented:
Ms. Allen, in regard to the employee classification in this case, expressed confidence in County Treasurer Amy Klawinsky that “she checked whether or not this was an exempt position, so you can’t get into the other time laws.”Commissioner Danny Kuykendall wanted more options. City Assistant Attorney Quentin Russell mentioned another alternative would be setting a fee per application. He said to avoid liability issues would be to make Mr. Garner an employee.
Commissioner Daugette preferred a time sheet and said “Two-thousand-dollars scares me, especially when you say, ‘directly under the supervision of.’”
The agenda item passed 3 to 2.
