May 3rd, 2011
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Author: BIRMINGHAM, Alabama — Jefferson County officials said Monday all roads department employees will return to a 40-hour workweek to help with the cleanup from last week’s storms.
County Commissioner Jimmie Stephens said the department will be exempt from the 32-hour workweek that went into effect last month for most county employees.
The Jefferson County Commission voted to reduce the workweek of most hourly employees to save the cash-strapped county $21 million annually.
“I’ve instructed Wayne Sullivan, director of the department, to go back to the 40 hours to be able to clear the debris and the things they need to get done,” Stephens said. “He said they should have all of that done by Wednesday or Thursday of this week.”
Bill Mullins, director of the inspection services department, said he also expects his 16 inspectors to work beyond 32 hours.
The department has identified 2,000 structures that will need to be demolished or repaired, he said, and that number will grow.
“There’s no way we can get all of the work done during a 32-hour workweek,” he said.
Minutes after deadly storms carved through Jefferson County, the county’s road crews were in hard-hit areas such as Concord, Pleasant Grove, Altadena and North Smithfield clearing debris and making way for emergency crews to reach residents trapped in battered communities.
Sullivan said most of his 350 employees worked from daylight until dark to clear roads, even with downed power lines sizzling across some roads in storm-ravaged areas. The focus now will be to make sure debris is moved out of the way as areas begin the first steps to rebuild, he said.
Commission President David Carrington said county workers will work as long as the job takes, and anything beyond the 32-hour workweek will be reimbursed by the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
“The employees are professionals, and they have stepped up to the challenge in spite of the county’s financial problems,” Carrington said. “We have damages to county facilities as well as some of our county employees who have suffered personal losses, but they are there and working hard.”
“When the need is there, the county will be there,” Stephens said. “If it’s overtime or comp time, we will be there for the citizens. This is an emergency.”
Commissioner Joe Knight, who is responsible for the county’s Emergency Management Agency, said coordinated efforts between county workers, the sheriff’s office, area cities and utility companies helped quickly respond to the damage.
“Our county was able to provide generators so we could get traffic lights working, and we got our guys out and got the initial clearing done,” he said.
Carrington said the county has had plenty of water and minimal looting.
The coroner’s office said no bodies have been left in the street.
A concern now, Knight said, is what happens if the county is forced to lay off as many as 1,400 workers to help make up for the loss of the county’s occupational tax.
“It makes you think,” he said. “On the next disaster, what if we don’t have the forces that we had to mobilize this time? . . . That’s a scary thought.”
Join the conversation, add a comment or email: bwright@bhamnews.com
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