(Left to right) Fire Chief Joe Mansell, Councilman Gary Cummings, Mayor David Grissom, Councilman Jamie Harris, Investigator Scotty Lowery, Councilman David Palmer, Fire marshal Justin Green and Parks and Rec Director Chad Sears brought a special presentation on each of their jobs to Russellville Elementary School, where they got the chance to share and interact with fifth grade students.

By Josh Prewitt for the FCT
Oct. 14 the mayor of Russellville, David Grissom, and member of the city council, along with Fire Chief Joe Mansell, Fire Marshal Justin Green, Russellville Police Lieutenant Scotty Lowery and Russellville Parks and Recreation Director Chad Sears, came to speak to Russellville Elementary School to talk to fifth graders about each of their departments.
“Several weeks ago Carol Fretwell and Melissa Greenhill of Russellville Elementary wanted me to come talk to a couple of classes about the city council and how it works, and it kind of grew into the whole fifth grade,” Grissom said. “The rest of city council and I spoke on our departments and what we do, and it was very informative, I think. It seemed the kids listened well. Those kids are the leaders of our future, and we’ve got to start educating them as early as we can about how the government works, and hopefully they will be taking care of us one day.”

Councilmen David Palmer, Gary Cummings and Jamie Harris accompanied Grissom.
Russellville Elementary Principal Kristie Ezzell said she was excited for the students to finally meet the mayor and council. “It was a good way for our students to know about the city government and meet them firsthand,” Ezzell said. “They know about the mayor and about the councilmen, but they’ve never met them. A lot of our students will never meet them, but they were able to today,” Ezzell said.
The students got to hear about where city money is spent and why it’s important to understand what it takes to run the City of Russellville. They also learned about industry in Russellville and downtown development plans, among other topics.

Mansell and Green got the students excited talking about what they do and see on a daily basis as firemen.
“Fires are changing; everything is changing, the way stuff is being made and produced now, so we have to try and stay on top of the game,” said Mansell, explain the department’s recent improved ISO rating to the students. “We’re doing all we can to be the best fire department we possibly can.”
Sears finished the presentation by talking about his duties as a Parks and Recreation director. “We’re here to offer sports to the city of Russellville to help get kids ready as young as we can,” Sears said. “We have all the basic sports and events throughout the year and would like anyone who wants to join and participate to come sign up and play with us.”