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City approves change in retirement benefits

by

Neal Embry Starnes Media

After backing state legislation that allowed cities to provide Tier I retirement benefits to Tier II employees, the Vestavia Hills City Council passed a resolution officially providing those benefits to all Tier II employees.

Tier II employees are those hired on or after Jan. 1, 2013. Previous state legislation changed the benefits provided to those employees, who receive a lower monthly benefit into their pension, are not able to convert sick time into the pension and must be 56, with 10 years of service, before receiving retirement benefits. Tier 1 employees can retire after 25 years of service at any age, or at age 60 with at least 10 years of service.

Legislation passed during the 2019 session allows cities to provide Tier I benefits to all employees, but cities must pay any increased costs associated with the conversion. The city of Mountain Brook recently voted not to provide Tier I benefits to Tier II employees.

“The benefits to this conversion outweigh the cost,” said City Manager Jeff Downes. “We want our city to be an employer of choice.”

The council voted unanimously to approve the change and was met with applause from the numerous first responders in attendance at the meeting.

Prior to that vote, the city became the first city in Alabama to be declared a Human Trafficking Free Zone, as part of an initiative by the U.S. Institute Against Human Trafficking. The program is managed at the local level by the Child Trafficking Solutions Project, a coalition of local and state leaders aiming to curb human trafficking in Jefferson County in preparation for the World Games, coming to Birmingham in 2021.

Becoming such a zone requires the proclamation, a zero-tolerance policy for city employees who purchase sex at work, which is already in effect, and training for all city staff, which will be provided in the near future.

Following some discussion at recent work sessions, the council voted to change the city’s food truck ordinance, reinforcing what Downes called the “spirit” of the ordinance, making it clear that food trucks must leave and take all of their property with them on days of non-operation. Food trucks are only allowed to be in the same location for three days in a row, Downes said.

In a related vote, the council approved an agreement with Maddox Enterprises to put restrictions on a lot on the south end of U.S. 31 where food trucks have been setting up shop. The agreement was discussed and verbally agreed to at a Nov. 18 work session. Larry Maddox, the owner of two lots where the Motor Lodge was formerly located, is close to finalizing a deal to bring a restaurant to one lot, but due to the cost of razing the lodge, there is a $75,000 lien placed on the lot.

In exchange for the city waiving half of that lien, Maddox agreed to allow the city to put restrictions on the other lot, which has been the site of two food trucks, pop-up tents and Christmas tree sales. The restrictions state that in the future, only brick-and-mortar stores may be housed on the lot.

If the sale of the unoccupied lot to the restaurant falls through, the deal is dead.

The council also passed a resolution allowing Downes to transfer half of fiscal year 2019’s general fund surplus to the city’s capital projects fund, a move designed to ensure the city has matching money available when the pedestrian bridge and Massey Road projects, both federal projects, are started.

In his report to the council, Downes said repaving efforts for fiscal year 2020 should begin soon, starting with Shades Crest Road, along with the Buckhead and Ashley Wood subdivisions.

In other business, the council:

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