By Chris Yow
Editor
CLAY — The Clay City Council voted unanimously tonight to pay a settlement to a former employee at the recommendation of city attorney Alan Summers.
The lawsuit stemmed from a dispute with overtime pay from 2012 following the tornado clean up. Lynn Burch originally asked for $30,000 in overtime pay according to City Manager Ronnie Dixon, but rather than continue through a trial, both parties settled the suit for $10,000. Dixon said the monies would be paid from the General Fund.
“We inherited a bunch of lawsuits (from the previous administration),” Dixon said. “This is the last one.”
Summers said the city had no rules or regulations during the time frame concerning this suit.
“It’s rather hard to defend these (cases),” Summers said. “That was then, and this is now. This wouldn’t happen now.”
The city has since installed time clocks and has adopted a city handbook detailing pay structure, including overtime pay.
Dixon brought in Lieutenant John Mayes of the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office to speak on the reports of a “rash of burglaries” in Clay. Dixon said social media posts sparked interest from the community, and he wanted to have a report from the sheriff’s office concerning crime statistics.
Mayes reported from October to December, there were only seven residential burglaries reported, and zero robberies. Mayes did say there were two burglaries in the last two weeks, but the sheriff’s department had a pair of suspects in the cases.
“Burglaries tend to go up after Christmas,” he said. “But overall, we’re pleased with the statistics in the area.”
During the meeting’s public comments allotment, Clay resident Ken Galbreath announced his intention to run for mayor in the coming election.
In other business, the city:
- Adopted an ordinance establishing a debt setoff and appeals procedure.
- Adopted a resolution joining the 2014 Jefferson County Multi-hazard Mitigation Plan