Councilmen, mayor at odds

Angry over the city’s clean up efforts to remove debris from roadsides, two Russellville city council members and a couple of local residents dumped trailer loads of brush at the curb of the street department and city hall Wednesday night.

Councilman Gary Cummings said residents have been trying to have debris picked up for several weeks in certain locations and have gotten little response from street department crews.

“If they won’t come get it, we will bring it to them,” Cummings said, referring to the street department.

“I am tired of these cat and mouse games around here that keeps things from getting done.”

Cummings and councilman David Grissom helped load several trailer loads of debris at Brookwood subdivision on Underwood Road and another load in Cedar Creek subdivision Wednesday night.

Jerry McDuffa, a resident of Brookwood subdivision and a member of the city’s electric board, said the large pile of debris piled in the cul-de-sac of that neighborhood had been there for a month.

City street department superintendent Roy Price said that he never received any calls from Brookwood residents, but did hear from Cummings concerning the matter.

“Our men were working in that area Wednesday and stopped before they got to that neighborhood and they were going to go there Thursday,” Price said. “When they went back Thursday morning it was gone.

“I had been out there to look at what they had there and I made the decision that that pile was out of the way and in an area that wouldn’t bother anyone for the time being. We have debris that’s been on the ground since April 27 that we are trying to get to. We have to prioritize what we are doing.”

Price presented a list of complaints logged with the street department since the April 27 tornado and storm that passed through Franklin County. Of the 98 calls, those logs do not show any calls made from Brookwood residents.

Mayor Troy Oliver said stronger than usual storms have passed through the area all spring and summer causing tree limbs to fall throughout the city and that has slowed the department’s efforts to pick them all up.

“We have had several storms this year and problems with flooding that have caused things to back up,” Oliver said. “We have had problems with the street department truck and that’s caused several issues.”

Cummings said he asked if more help was needed at the street department months ago, but was told there wasn’t.

“I went to Roy (Price) in February and asked if he wanted to replace the four members that he was down, but he said ‘no, Gary, this is all about management.’

“That’s exactly right. This has nothing to do with the employees at the street department, they are doing a good job with what they have. The problem is with management and the mayor,” Cummings said.

McDuffa contests that a rift between Oliver and council members are what’s causing the problem.

“I don’t know what’s wrong, but there must be a conflict between the mayor and the council, but they were all elected to help the people,” he said. “For some reason we can’t get any help. Our councilman, Gary Cummings, is willing to come out here and pick this up himself, so I am willing to help him.”

While picking up debris Wednesday, Cummings said he was “tired of excuses” and was ready for things to be done around the city.

“This is all over town,” he said. “Everywhere you go, you see piles and piles of this stuff by the road and nobody is going to pick it up. This is what we were elected to do and if we have to do it ourselves, we will. I have had enough.”

Oliver said the city council voted on May 16 to purchase a new truck to help with debris clean up. He said that vehicle would allow one person to operate it, therefore, freeing up labor at other spots in the city.

The minutes of that meeting show that Cummings and Councilman Jeff Masterson voted against the purchase.

“I told (Cummings) that it would pay for itself in less than two years in labor and maintenance savings,” Price said. “He told me he would support purchasing it, but he voted against it.”

Cummings said he was not opposed to the purchase of a knuckle boom truck to pick up debris, but the mayor had the purchase listed on the agenda along with the purchase of a new Ford F-150 for the street department superintendent.

“I asked them to separate the items but they wouldn’t do it,” Cummings said. “I don’t think we needed to buy the pick-up truck and that’s the only reason I voted against it.”

Masterson said he also voted against the purchase because of the tie-in with the F-150.

“I did vote against purchasing a new brush truck along with a new pickup that we could have operated without in the street department,” Masterson said.

“It was my understanding back in the fall, when the schools were cut some $400,000 to $600,000 that we, the city, needed to tighten our belts. Going out and making these purchases at a time when the schools were cut and almost all of our city employees have went without raises was my reasoning for my vote.

“It’s also my belief that if most of our department heads were not micro-managed in their day to day operations, they would find solutions, for instance, picking up brush in a timely manner. Maybe it’s as simple as working on Saturdays. If I’ve learned anything listening to my constituents, it’s that they want good schools, their brush picked up and our streets paved.

“In my opinion, these walking trails and new vehicles should wait until better financial times. As far as the councilmen that helped in the brush pick-up, I understand their frustration and support them in helping their districts keep the brush removed.”

Oliver said the street department has been working various projects, including some time spent helping with relief efforts in Phil Campbell after the April 27 tornado and that caused delays as well.

The city turned in a $63,593.92 claim to the Federal Emergency Management Agency to recover some expenses accrued during clean up efforts, the mayor said. All of that total was to be used for clean-up for damage in Russellville.

Grissom agreed with many of the mayor’s assertions pertaining to an unusual amount of storm damage and the city having a shortage of resources.

“But there comes a time when the excuses have to stop,” he said.

“There seems to be a lack of leadership from the top down managing even the most basic operations of the city, which includes removal of brush for the people. Leadership from the very top needs to take responsibility.”

Oliver said the two councilmen involved were the ones who needed to take a look in the mirror when questioning leadership.

“You either have to lead, follow or get out of the way,” Oliver said. “These two are getting in the way by the spreading this trash from one place to another.”

Cummings and Grissom contend that leadership is getting out on the streets and working when the job isn’t getting done otherwise, they said.

Oliver also said that Grissom and Cummings would be billed for time spent cleaning the brush and for the use of city equipment.

Grissom said he asked the mayor in June to allow the street department to work overtime during the week and on weekends until the debris was cleaned up.

“He didn’t want to do that. Had he taken the council’s advice, the city would be clean by now. The day to day operations of the city fall under the mayor’s responsibility,” Grissom said.

“If that responsibility isn’t being met, we have a major problem. I’m afraid that’s what we have here. The bottom line is that we need a mayor who will listen to the people and who will go to work for the people.”

Councilman Lanny Hubbard said he knew of some residents that had debris in front of their home for five weeks.

“We need to put a genuine effort into cleaning the city, even if that means putting in some overtime,” Hubbard said. “We could use 10 days to two weeks to get this cleaned up. It’s out of control. If we put our resources to use, we could get it to a point where we could control it again.”

“One of the mayor’s campaign promises was to clean up the city of Russellville and now he’s giving us a hard time for cleaning it up ourselves,” Cummings said. “I know that our compliance officer documented things in my district that’s been there since February. Enough is enough.”