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By JOYANNA LOVE/ Senior Staff Writer

The Jemison City Council began the process of amending job descriptions for the city clerk and assistant city clerk to balance out the work load during a meeting on Oct. 1.

The City Council unanimously approved adding human resources responsibilities to the assistant city clerk job description and set the current assistant city clerk salary at 7C on the city’s pay scale.

City Administrator Shannon Welch said the changes were to “give our city clerk some breathing room, so that she is allowed to maintain that 30,000-foot view of our financial picture of our city.”

Welch said the assistant city clerk had already taken some classes on human resources and there were a few more she could take.

Jemison Mayor Eddie Reed said changes had been discussed prior to Vicki Potts coming into the city clerk position.

Councilman Rex Bittle asked if the Council needed to amend the city clerk job description to remove human resources responsibilities. Welch said that would need to be done eventually, but there are some other changes to the job description that are in the discussion phase. The plan is for all of the proposed changes to the city clerk position to be presented to the Council and voted on at a later date.

Welch said there are also plans to move the city clerk’s office from the front office to somewhere with less distractions while the clerk works on finances.

The City Council also approved hiring an attorney to serve as the court-appointed attorney for those who cannot afford it. This attorney will make $750 per month.

“This is a good plan,” Reed said. “We don’t have a choice in this. By law, we have to appoint an attorney for any person that cannot afford an attorney and it is paid from the court.”

The move is expected to save the city money based on the current system which has cost up to $2,000 per month.

Welch said there have been up to four different attorneys appointed by the court at one time to serve as attorneys for those who cannot afford one in one court session.

An attorney, who has worked with the court for several years, has expressed interest in the position, according to Reed.