Rainsville Eighth Safest City
By Sherri Blevins
The Rainsville City Council meeting convened Monday, August 19, 2019. All council members and mayor were present. During the work session, Councilman Byrum described his desire to see the wages of Rainsville’s First Responders increased to be in line with other DeKalb County First Responders. He stated that in 2007, he investigated the salaries of first responders in DeKalb County cities, and at that time, the council adjusted the Rainsville employees pay to be in line with the other cities. Byrum stated that he would like to see that happen again in the upcoming budget. According to Byrum, the current salary of Rainsville First Responders is $2.00 lower than that of nearby cities. He urged the other councilmen to do what is necessary to make this change happen in the new budget.
One statistic that supports the argument that Rainsville First Responders deserve their pay was revelaed by Rainsville Police Chief, Kevin Smith. He revealed that Rainsville was named the Eighth Safest City in the State by Security Baron, which is a consumer-oriented site that looks at specific products and security systems. This ranking moves Rainsville even farther up on the safety scale from last year’s Eleventh Safest City ranking.
During the regular meeting, the council took the following action:
- Approved repairing the sewer line on Vista View Drive for $2,000.00
- Granted the mayor authority to reject the USDA sewer loan
- Approved September 5, 2019, as the date of the next meeting due to the Labor Day holiday
- Accepted the bid of $21,473.00 for the purchase of a Waste Water Treatment Plant truck
- Approved hiring Donald Carr as Patrolman
- Approved $4,000 for improvements to the city’s drive-through renovation project
- Approved repairing the culvert on Mockingbird Lane for $2,200.00
- Approved repairing the culvert on Everett St. for $1,500.00
- Appointed a fifteen-member board for the DeKalb County Coliseum
- Approved sending the city clerk and assistant clerk to training in Tuscaloosa August 28-30
- Approved sending the revenue officer to the Revenue Officer Conference on October 2-4
- Accepted the resignation of Jacob Owens at the Rainsville Police Department
- Posted a job opening at the Rainsville Police Department to replace Owens
- Approved funding the Taser 60 Program to upgrade existing tasers at the police department using the Police Department Savings Account and extend the $19,773.00 charge over five years
- Approved hiring Ryan Hambric and Taylor Casey as Part-time Fire Fighters for the Rainsville Fire Department
- Approved appointing Sergeant Malone as SRO officer for Plainview, Cornerstone, and city daycare centers
- Adopted Resolution 8-19-2019 allocating the funds from the Rebuild Alabama Gas Tax for the repair of roads and bridges in the city of Rainsville
The council agreed to pay the bills, and the mayor adjourned the Rainsville City Council meeting.