The Americus City Council met on December 19. Council member Charles Christmas made a motion for council member Daryl Dowdell to serve as Mayor pro tem for 2025. The motion was seconded by council member Kelvin Pless, passing unanimously.

Ola Terrell, Human Resources Director, presented a recommendation to Council for proposed changes in the pay plan. She told how every position in the City fell under a minimum, a midpoint, and a maximum. “What I propose is, according to the comp and class study that we did, we move to adopt the, the proposed scale. That will put police and fire at a higher rate, and if we are to include public works, public works falls in a general category, so if they are to be included, it would be for everyone, which technically would only affect 29 employees, 17 being in the public safety, and the rest being in the general.”

Terrell made a distinction between the proposed 2.41% increase and the pay scale. “What I am requesting and what I requested in executive session did not include the 2.41%. It only included the pay scale.”

She gave the current employees that would be affected by moving the pay scale. “There are four in finance, there are 17 in public safety, and the rest are in public service, meaning public works or the gas department.”

Terrell gave an example. “If the Chief wants to hire an employee, say for instance he had been working at another organization and had ten years of experience as an officer, we would look at that, as a scale, they would fall probably closer to the mid-point than the minimum.” She gave her conclusion. “If we were to change the scale, it would get us candidates, instead of nothing.”

Council member Terrence Clemmons made a motion to adopt the plan as originally submitted, which included not only public safety, but public works. Council member Kelvin Pless seconded the motion. Council member Charles Christmas and Dowdell voted against the measure, and Mayor Lee Kinnamon broke the tie in favor.