By MOLLY DAVIDSON / Staff Writer

PELHAM—The Pelham Personnel Board met with city attorneys Butch Ellis and Josh Arnold during a Sept. 17 meeting to review the city’s Civil Service Law.

The Civil Service Law was originally adopted in 1988. Over the past several months, the Personnel Board has conducted an extensive examination of the law, section by section, editing it for clarity and consistency with the city’s current practices and current labor laws that have changed since it was passed.

“The Board has really kicked a lot of things around,” Personnel Board member and former Pelham Mayor Bobby Hayes said. “We’re trying to get this into the language of today.”

The Personnel Board turned their edited copy of the Civil Service Law over to attorneys Ellis and Arnold, who will once again review it to ensure it is legally sound.

“We’ll fine-tune it to make sure it doesn’t have any legal problems,” Ellis said. “We just want to make sure we don’t have any substantive problems (or) procedural due process problems.”

After review by the attorneys, the Civil Service Law will be returned to the Personnel Board and City Council for a final review, and then sent to the Alabama Legislature for approval.

“They’ll want to know it’s broadly supported by the City Council and Personnel Board,” Ellis said. “As long as you are all on the same page, I think you can get it through the legislative process okay.”

Ellis suggested adding a section to the Civil Service Law allowing the Personnel Board, City Council, mayor and city attorney to work together to adjust the law in the event of future changes to underlying federal labor laws. Thus the law would not “have to go to the State Legislature every time” a federal law changed.

“This law is for the city and for the employees,” Hayes said of the Civil Service Law. “It’s fair to everyone, especially the employees.”