Linden City Council is Goodloe’s new “Sheriff Davis”

[dave]

Sutton will keep printing it till Reader’s Digest calls him again. Page after sleep inducing page all saying the same thing: Goodloe is in love with Pat Vice. Well, maybe not in those exact words. According to Sutton, the Linden City Council illegally stripped Pat Vice of his hiring/firing powers as Mayor of Linden. He has repeatedly cited the same Code of Alabama; section 11-43D-15. It goes like this:
Noninterference of Council with administrative services.

Neither the council or any of it’s members shall direct or request the appointment of any person to, or his removal from, office or position by the mayor or by any of his subordinates, or in any manner take part in the appointment or removal of officers and employees in the administrative service of the city. Except for the purpose of inquiry, the council and its members shall not deal with the administrative service solely through the mayor and neither the council or any member thereof may give orders to any subordinates of the mayor, either publicly or privately.(Acts 1989, No. 89-750, 15.)
Since I’m as much a lawyer as Goodloe is I’ll give my opinion as to how the council can justify doing what it did and still be legal. What the code says to me is basically the council cannot hire or fire anyone. It does not say the Mayor is not subject to being stripped of his powers. The council didn’t take the powers to use them, but rather gave the powers to the heads of the departments. This makes sense since the department heads would know more about their employees than anyone else would. All the council members voted unanimously, and the City Attorney states the decision is legal. The only ones saying it’s not are Pat Vice himself and Goodloe Sutton, who prints pictures of dead or dying kids to sell more papers. Who would you believe?<br>The Code of Alabama can be seen here. (http://www.legislature.state.al.us/CodeofAlabama/1975/coatoc.htm)
More talk about money in the Commission.
<p>During a work session, the County Commission discussed how to generate more revenue for the County. The main issue at hand is the County courthouse, which is falling apart; the roof and electrical system being of top priority. Some of the suggestions put out were a one cent sales tax increase, an increase on ad valorem tax (property), a gasoline tax, a 5 cent tax on cigarettes, and a tax on soft drinks. Ken Tucker once again stated his position on adding taxes; the public should vote on all new taxes. He suggested increasing court costs and fees, letting the crooks using the courthouse pay for it themselves. At any rate, look for taxes to be raised in the state and county levels. One other expensive venture looming that wasn’t mentioned is the lawsuit against the County brought by BWWMH to force the County to pay for indigent care. I guess the ostrich effect will work for that a little while longer anyway.</p>

[stickman]

My thing to Goodloe is this:

If what the council has done is so illegal, why haven't you contacted the AG with your "evidence"?

My next question is who in the hell is the City Administrator for Linden? I know Dennis Mason was under B.R. Dunn, and I think under Katherine Friday for a short while, but I don't recall anyone else being hired or appointed to this position. I think maybe Goodloe is bucking for this position.

This last article gives me the impression Goodloe is calling Pat Vice and the Linden City Council a bunch of crooks. To me though, they all look like circus clowns @ Ringling Bros.

Later,
Stickman

[Randy]

Just a few thing that might put a little light on this matter.
First Cheryl Hall is the City Admin. she has had this tital ever since Friday was mayor.
Also if you would look at the law that Goodblow keeps printing you will see that it has a D in the code, this means that it applies to towns with a population with more that 25,000 people. He is only printing what he wants people to read.

Randy

[stickman]

Thanks for the enlightenment Randy! I knew you'd fit in real well here!

Stickman

[dave]

Hmmmm.. Very interesting....

When Vice started complaining about city employees taking problems and concerns to the council members directly without going to the Mayor first, you have to think they were complaining about the Mayor himself. In that case, how can you blame them? Are you going to your boss you have a problem with hiom when he has the absolute ability to fire you for your trouble? Now that problem is solved. Personally, I think the town will do better for it.

[dave]

Randy is exactly right. Here's the code of classes:

Section 11-40-12
Classification of municipalities.
(a) There are hereby established eight classes of municipalities based on the population as certified by the 1970 federal decennial census, as authorized by amendment No. 375, Constitution of Alabama, 1901, as follows:

Class 1: All cities with a population of 300,000 inhabitants or more;

Class 2: All cities with a population of not less than 175,000 and not more than 299,999 inhabitants;

Class 3: All cities with a population of not less than 100,000 and not more than 174,999 inhabitants;

Class 4: All cities with a population of not less than 50,000 and not more than 99,999 inhabitants;

Class 5: All cities with a population of not less than 25,000 and not more than 49,999 inhabitants;

Class 6: All cities with a population of not less than 12,000 and not more than 24,999 inhabitants;

Class 7: All cities with a population of not less than 6,000 and not more than 11,999 inhabitants;

Class 8: All cities and towns with a population of 5,999 inhabitants or less.

(b) The legislature may refer, in the title thereof, to the class or classes of municipalities herein set out, in adopting general laws.

(c) Any municipality incorporated after June 28, 1979, shall be placed in one of the above classes according to the population of the municipality at the time of its incorporation.

(Acts 1979, No. 79-263, p. 402, &sect;&sect;1, 3.)

There is nothing about class 8 towns in that section of the code that I can find. That basically kills Goodloe's claim of any vote being illegal. Nice catch Randy!!