Town decides to re-advertise two positions
The Century Town Council Monday night voted 3 to 2 to start the hiring process over for two recently hired employees after it was determined that the town's charter states the council must approve hiring of new employees.
A third position for a wastewater treatment trainee to help Water Superintendent Heath Burkett was not addressed at the meeting, Mayor Boutwell said later.
Mayor Ben Boutwell had hired a person for the street department and one for the office recently after the positions were advertised and the applicants were interviewed, although the council was not involved.
Councilman Luis Gomez cited an incident where former Mayor Henry Hawkins had hired an employee without seeking approval from the council and was told he could not do that by former Council President Ann Brooks, according to the charter.
“Everything that Hawkins did and got in trouble for and lost his seat for, Ben is doing now, and it's supposed to be OK,” said Gomez. “If I have to come in there and challenge something they are doing that is illegal every week, I'll do it.”
Gomez said he feels that for a town that is 70 percent black, to not have one person of color in the office is not right. Gomez read sections of the charter at the meeting that stated the council has to approve any hiring or firing.
The street department employee who was hired has been working since March 9 and Gomez suggested letting that person continue to work, but advertise for the office position, as required by the charter.
Councilwoman Dynette Lewis said the entire process was done illegally and both positions should be advertised and done according to the charter.
Gomez said he is curious how many applied for the office position and how many were black. Town Clerk Kim Godwin told him that four applied.
“That means there were three other applicants the council may have thought were more qualified,” said Gomez.
Mayor Boutwell said his interpretation of the charter as of May 2013 was that the council gave the mayor, Freddie McCall, Jr., at that time, the power to hire and fire, which Godwin stated at the council meeting.
“We are going to advertise the position, then take a look at the applications,” said Boutwell later in a phone interview. “We will make a decision of who we want to hire, we will bring that to the council and the council will vote yes or no for the recommendation of who we want to hire. That's how we are going to do it in the future.”
A motion was made to advertise the two positions again and follow the hiring process according to the charter.
Councilman James Smith and Councilwoman Sandra McMurray-Jackson vote no and Councilman Leonard White, Councilman Gomez and Councilwoman Dynette Lewis voted yes. The motion carried and the positions will be advertised again.
In other business, the council:
-Approved an $8,500,000 bond issuance in partnership with the City of Gulf Breeze through Capital Trust Agency for two AcadeMir Charter School, Inc. projects in Florida which will net the town a fee of $3,500
-Approved an ordinance to adopt the 2021 Electric Utility Franchise with Gulf Power to provide the town's south end electricity with a 6 percent franchise fee, up from 5 percent, for 5 years
-Received a Century Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA) Annual Report that showed a balance of $32,000 and an increase in the total assessed real property values of property within the CRA of about $3 million between September 2017 and January 2020
The next meeting will be at 7 p.m., Monday, April 5, at 6001A Industrial Boulevard in Century.
