LAFOLLETTE, TN (WLAF) – Monday afternoon, the City of LaFollette Council met in its monthly workshop.

On the agenda were several personnel changes. Assistant Fire Chief Jimmy Pack was promoted last month to chief, leaving his position open. Pack recommended Captain Eddie Hatmaker to fill the position.

Next up was the public works department.  Current Public Works Director Jim Mullens is retiring as of June 30, and the council has been accepting applications for his position. Currently, the city has four in-house applicants, Steve Goins, Casey Boshears, Darian Foust and Anthony Huddleston. There was one applicant from outside the city, John Carroll.

The codes officer saga continued as well. The city has subcontracted the commercial inspections, due to Codes Officer Daniel Foster not being certified.  Foster is now responsible for codes compliance, zoning and animal control. Council will discuss changing his salary to reflect the outsourced duties of commercial inspections. Councilman Mark Hoskins requested the city write an ordinance pertaining to commercial dumpsters and unoccupied houses/building. Hoskins would like to see all dumpsters be locked and all unoccupied houses/buildings be secured for safety reasons. City Administrator Jimmy Jeffries said it would take about a month to have an ordinance written.

In other business, the council discussed donating employee sick time.  Jeffries requested council allow him to talk with City Attorney Reid Troutman about the best way to proceed.  La Follette Fire Captain Charlie Hutson currently serves as the infectious disease officer for the city, and he is retiring from the position. Hutson recommended City Clerk Stan Foust take over the position since he currently works with the newly hired employees. The position pays $1,800 a year.

Leasing the Old Post Office on South Tennessee Avenue was put on the agenda by Council Member Lonnie “Hotrod” Wilson. He would like to lease the post office building to Postmark LaFollette for a $1 a year. Concerns over the condition of the windows in the building were once again discussed. The sealant previously used on the windows has worn off and the windows are starting to show signs of deterioration.

Jeffries asked council how it wanted to proceed with the downtown ATV Fall Festival due to COVID-19.  Council agreed to wait until the end of July before deciding. Jeffries told council it needs to decide what to do if COVID continues to spike within the city.  (WLAF NEWS PUBLISHED – 06/30/2020-6AM)

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