CULLMAN, Ala. – The Alabama Senate last Friday passed House Bill 486, which would increase the Cullman County Commission from three members to five. The bill is now headed to the desk of Governor Kay Ivey to be signed.
House Bill 486 was sponsored by Representatives Randall Shedd, R-Fairview and Corey Harbison, R-Good Hope.
Shedd offered this summary:
- The legislative delegation believes Cullman County’s population growth has outgrown the three-member county governing body concept, and therefore proposes to add elected representation for all four corners of the county.
- Upon being fully implemented this legislation would not add additional cost to the taxpayers.
- Rather than two full-time associate commissioners, this local legislation would add to the public’s representation by having four part-time commissioners.
- Four associate commissioners would represent the four sections of the county: northeast, southeast, northwest and southwest areas of the county by residency requirements.
- To promote countywide unity, all commissioners would run countywide.
- The chairperson could reside anywhere in Cullman County and run countywide.
- The legislation changes the title from Chairman to a gender-neutral title of Commission Chair.
- The legislation would require at least one meeting per month be conducted in the evening to provide the working public an opportunity to attend commission meetings.
- To ensure continuity, terms of associate commissioners will be staggered, with the two new commissioners serving a two-year term, then four-year terms thereafter.
- Beginning with the new commissioners in November 2022, part-time commissioners’ salaries will be $25,000 per year.
- No change in the Chairman’s salary
- Current associate commissioners would be “grandfathered in” at their current pay.
Tuesday, The Tribune talked to members of the Cullman County Commission to get their thoughts on the bill, and they are mixed.
Chairman Kenneth Walker said, “I’m just opposed to it because of the cost. It isn’t going to save the County any money. Plus, all it’s doing is giving the local delegation more authority over the commission and they aren’t elected for the commission.”
He added, “By the time you get four commissioners, they’ll want their own secretary and that will be four more full-time employees, plus they’ll want their office in their district.”
Walker also believes the citizens of Cullman County should have made the decision, saying, “The citizens should have voted on it.”
Commissioner Garry Marchman is not in favor of the new structure.
“I don’t like the structure at all,” he said. “I sent Randall (Shedd) and them a letter, probably about a month ago, when it first became a discussion of, ‘Hey, we are going to propose this to the legislators.’ I don’t like the structure. I think if you are going to a district commission system, it needs to be a district system where the people in that district elect that person.”
He continued, “I know commissioners that are in office now that have been in office for years that have never been elected by their district. That’s going to happen here and I don’t think that’s a good idea. I think we need to be under a district system rather than a unit system because the purpose of the district is to give you that representation. When we discussed it, I talked to them, it would be no different than the legislators having to run statewide. Why do they run by district? Because they represent the people in their district, so if they are making decisions that are affecting the whole state why don’t they have to run statewide?”
Marchman is not concerned about the money or being part-time, but said, “There’s no way you can be part-time in this business.”
The system Marchman does like is the one in place in Mobile County, he said, sharing, “The one I like the most is a three-member commission. They have three districts; they have their county broken down into three districts and they all run in their district. Then they elect among themselves who is going to represent them for that period of time as a chairman or they have the options to rotate that chair seat.”
Walker, Marchman and Commissioner Kerry Watson all agree that the people should have voted on change.
Said Watson, “I’m OK with it, but I think it would have been better to let the people of the county vote on it. I don’t know how it’s going to affect the finances of the County. I know they say $25,000 per commissioner, but it’s hard to tell what’s going to happen years down the road, if it’s going to go up.”
If signed off on by Ivey, the district breakdown would be as follows:
- Commission District One- The area of the county which lies to the east of U.S. Highway 31 and north of U.S. Highway 278
- Commission District Two- The area of the county which lies to the west of U.S. Highway 31 and north of U.S. Highway 278
- Commission District Three- The area of the county which lies east of U.S. Highway 31 and south of U.S. Highway 278
- Commission District Four- The area of the county which lies west of U.S. Highway 31 and south of U.S. Highway 278
The full-time chairman and four part-time associate commissioners would be nominated and elected by the qualified electors of the county at large.
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