HANCEVILLE, Ala.- The Hanceville City Council held a special meeting Thursday afternoon outside of city hall to consider a resolution to opt out of the Families First Coronavirus Response Act passed by Congress on March 18, 2020. The city council did pass the resolution as well as cuts made by the City during the Covid-19 State of Emergency.
The Families First Coronavirus Response Act creates the Emergency Family and Medical Leave Expansion Act and the Emergency Paid Sick Leave Act.
City Clerk Tania Wilcox explained, “We are allowed to exempt or opt out of coming up under the Families First Coronavirus Response Act, which is divided up into two parts- to provide paid leave to employees under certain situations. One of the biggest things about it is the employees would not use their sick or vacation time. The city would just pay them, and it’s up to 12 weeks. By not coming up under this act, the regular FMLA, Family Medical Leave, would still apply; it’s just that the employee would have to use their own time and it would be for sickness.”
Wilcox continued, “Our fire, rescue and police and the other services we provide is more heightened now than any time for local government. It was just felt, if this was out there and available, that it would be where to that the City would not be able to run properly.”
Mayor Kenneth Nail pointed out that employees can still use their sick time if they feel sick and that the City of Cullman had already opted out of the Act. Wilcox also said that no employees had come forward with any legitimate hardship complaint or situation.
Wilcox added, “Companies that have 500 or more employees don’t have to come under it anyway. They are exempt automatically. Companies under 50 employees are exempt and then all the companies in between are allowed a payroll tax credit. So, for every dollar they pay out in payroll to this, they get a payroll tax credit and that would help tremendously except they exempted local government from being able to claim the tax credit on that. I don’t see how the City of Hanceville could actually, monetarily, fund it.”
The council passed the resolution unanimously.
Nail stressed, “Look, we’ve always worked with our employees. I’ve always said that I don’t think we have ever turned anybody down on vacation time or their sick time. If there is an issue or a family issue, I say, ‘Go, take care of your family.’ We didn’t want to paralyze the city, but we are kind of afraid that we could get to a situation and didn’t do this, it could paralyze the city.”
The City does have a sick leave sharing program in the event an employee experiences a “catastrophic” situation.
Nail also met with department heads throughout the week to find ways to cut back on part-time employees in hopes of protecting the City’s full-time employees. One dispatch (36 hours) and one court clerk office (40 hours) positions will remain unfilled through the duration of the COVID-19 emergency.
Nail said, “These are cuts that have hurt, but we felt like we had to do it to save the full-time employees.
Cuts also include:
- 36 hours at the Hanceville Fire Department
- 4 part-time positions at Public Works (92 hours)
- 3 part-time Library employees (55 hours)
The kids’ and senior Fish-O-Rama events have been canceled as well as extra equipment and material purchases in additional efforts to cut back on expenses. The Hanceville City Pool will continue to carry out minimal maintenance to the pool. Right of way mowing will be done on a bi-weekly basis rather than weekly. The scheduled May 9 concert at Hanceville Civic Center will be rescheduled for later in the summer.
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