The Falkville Town Council held a variety of opinions during their discussion of the possibility of creating a new clerical position in the new police department that will soon be completed at Town Hall at their work session Tuesday evening.

The new administrative assistant would be “responsible for providing administrative support for the Administrative Departments of the Town of Falkville,” according to a job summary of the potential opening.

The new police headquarters and additions to Town Hall are scheduled to be completed in the third week of August. These updates include an office space that could be used by a new clerical worker to help with police paperwork and other office duties.

Councilman Ken Winkles seemed concerned that the position could cause confusion due to their multiple uses as a police department clerical worker and a Town Hall clerical worker.

“I’m afraid this position is only being created because we will have an open office space down there in the police department,” Winkles said. “Who is this person going to answer to? It’s going to cause complications if they work with the PD and Town Hall because both employers will want them working on their projects. I don’t want there to be in conflict in authority.”

Town Clerk Dawn Estes said the Town Hall office would greatly benefit from having some help to take on the police clerical work.

“We have daily jobs that we are doing such as clerical reports for the officers,” Estes said. “These are on top of other Town Hall jobs that include water reporting, filing, budget reporting, filling in at the library and plenty of other things. Having another person to specifically take care of the police work would be very helpful, especially if it was someone we could train in 911 emergency office work.”

Councilman Alton Hill questioned why another position was needed since they had added an extra police officer years earlier.

“When we decided to add another police officer, I asked then why we needed one,” Hill said. “The PD said they needed an extra officer to give (Chief) Chris (Free) more time to do paperwork. I know he is doing well at his job, but I just wonder what has changed since then to make us need that new position.”

The Council decided to further discuss the possible new position once the FY 2015 budget has been decided, which will be worked on in August.

During the work session, the Council also approved plans to recognize the Falkville High School softball team with an honorary proclamation of their achievements during their council meeting Tuesday at the Fire Department at 6 p.m.

The Council will approve a $1 certification pay increase for Estes next week. They discussed options for replacing the damaged “Welcome to Falkville” sign and decided to let Winkles talk to personal connections before making a decision.

A community prayer gathering for Falkville schools will be held at the Falkville school cafeteria Sat., Aug. 2 at 9 a.m.

The Falkville Police Department will host Coffee with a Cop at McDonald’s in Falkville Aug. 2 from 6-9 a.m. McDonald’s is furnishing coffee. This is an opportunity to for anyone to ask questions, voice concerns and get to know the Falkville officers.

The first annual memorial ride and poker run will honor Jeffrey Daniel Ledbetter, a deceased Trussville Fire Department explorer. Mike Butler, another local firefighter will be the beneficiary of this ride to help with medical bills associated with the flesh-eating bacteria he has contracted. The ride will be Aug. 9 with registration beginning at 9 a.m. at the Falkville Fire Department.