Officials from the Town of Sumrall are fine-tuning the details on a rate of pay and job description for a Public Works Department Director, a position that has remained vacant for more than a year.
The matter was discussed at the July 6 meeting of the Sumrall Board of Aldermen. Mayor William Joel Lofton, who was sworn in for his first term in early July, said once those issues are ironed out, he is hopeful to find the most qualified candidate to put before the board for approval.
“We are looking to hire for that, so right now it is still posted,” Lofton said. “But I’ve had to back up and call all the applicants and say ‘Look, if you’re still interested, we’ll be in touch,’” but we can’t even interview somebody without a (finalized) job description.
“You can’t ask somebody if they’re capable of doing something if you haven’t identified what that ‘something’ is. So we’re in the process of finalizing a description, and I would expect that the board will approve an estimated rate of pay where the pay is going to be contingent on experience and somebody’s background to an extent.”
Anyone interested in applying for the position can visit Sumrall Town Hall on Main Street for an application. As of now, there is no closing date for applications, but Lofton said hopefully, the list of candidates will be narrowed down by late next month.
“The public work session is the third Tuesday (of August), which will give us a little more time to consider matters,” he said. "We can get everything in order, and get them before the board, and then they can make a decision. I plan to have a suggested rate of pay and a suggested job description for that third Tuesday work session.
"Hopefully, that will facilitate us having it approved in short order. We need a department head there; that’s vital to our town. We’re working and meeting needs the best we can, but we need somebody to take leadership of that department and put some daily time in to see that those employees are doing what they need to do. I think we could do it a little better with a supervisor in that department.”
Lofton said the director position was not advertised until shortly before the June 8 general election, although the previous director retired last year.
Other items at the July 6 board meeting included:
- An update on the recreational park on Mississippi 42, the downtown street light project and the relocation of Center Lane;
- Reviewing the draft of the final plat for the Magnolia Station subdivision;
- Reviewing a design for a town logo; and
- Approving term appointments for city clerk, judge, prosecutor, police chief, court clerk, mayor pro ten, election commissioners, the Longleaf Trace representative, and city attorney.
