City workers in Decatur may get higher year-end bonus
A north Alabama city may raise the bonus that it plans for city employees months after officials approved a 2.5% pay raise for workers. The Decatur Daily reports Decatur Mayor Tab Bowling wants to increase city workers’ Christmas bonus from the currently planned $100 to $1,000. Bowling cites the $20 million surplus the city built up in its 2021 budget year. A plan to increase the bonus to a total of $500 is already set for a City Council vote next month. Bowling said raising the bonuses to a total of $1,000 would cost about $400,000. The city has budgeted spending $72 million in the current 2022 budget, but Bowling said that with federal relief funding, Decatur may collect $100 million in revenue. Three council members prefer equaling last year’s $500 Christmas pay, as already proposed. These bonuses would go along with a 2.5% cost-of-living raise approved in the current 2022 budget in September. Councilman Billy Jackson said he’d prefer a $1,500 bonus. But others fear employees will expect big bonuses every year. “I’m afraid this could set some kind of precedent where there will be an expectation that we’re going to give a bonus of $500 or $1,000 every year,” Councilman Carlton McMasters said. “We have to be mindful that our duty to the taxpayers is our top priority. We’ve got roads that could be paved and more litter that can be picked up.” Republished with the permission of the Associated Press.
Councilman asked to resign over racially insensitive post
An Alabama councilman apologized for making a racially charged social media post two years ago, but a fellow council member believes the apology isn’t enough. On Saturday, Decatur Councilman Hunter Pepper said he was “extremely sorry” for a 2018 Facebook post where he implied that protesters marching against the death of Black man at the Galleria Mall in Hoover should be run over. The mall in the suburban Birmingham area was the site of a 2018 police shooting where an officer fatally shot an armed Black man after mistaking him for the gunman in an earlier shooting at the mall. The shooting of 21-year-old Emantic “EJ” Bradford Jr. prompted a series of protests. Pepper’s post was to an article on the protests in which he commented, “See I have to go shopping there next week and we gone play a game called red rover red rover you fools gone get ran over!” Pepper, who is the youngest person to be elected to the Decatur City Council, was 16 years old when he created the post. He said the post was “very ignorant” and that he didn’t “remember being that aggressive as a juvenile.” Pepper also said that the post makes no mention of race but “unfortunately it took a turn in that direction to involve race. “There is nothing in that post that mentions race whatsoever,” Pepper said. “I’m not a racist individual, and don’t like racism and am extremely sorry how that turned out.” Councilman Billy Jackson said Pepper “has no business representing any population in the city of Decatur” and should resign, news outlets reported. Jackson said Pepper’s age at the time should not be a factor because “that language is inexcusable.” “I’ve been 16 years old, and I’ve been around 16-year-olds,” Jackson said. “Never have I heard somebody suggest running over people, maiming people and possibly killing people. I am not sure he can blame it on age.” Jackson added that although Pepper did not blatantly mention Black people in his post, the protesters were mainly Black. Pepper, now 19, won the District 4 City Council race last year. Jackson said although he is calling for Pepper’s resignation, any removal from office would be residents’ decision. Republished with the permission of the Associated Press.
