Mayor says state code allows assignment of Dr. Rush to government relations role; move tied to budget changes

The mayor of Tuscaloosa said he will assign Dr. Rush, the city’s executive director of strategic communications, to handle government relations, external affairs and crisis communications and cited state authority for the move.

The mayor told the City Council the authority for such assignments “is derived from Alabama code 11 dash 44 b dash 7 in parenthesis 1,” and that the assignment is lawful so long as duties fall within an employee’s existing job description and funding is budgeted. He said the Fiscal 2026 budget recommendation would remove the deputy director of strategic communications and the executive secretary positions, producing a net perpetual savings of $44,000 if the council agrees to those budget changes.

Why it matters: the mayor said putting a point person on legislative issues is meant to address what he described as the city’s largest legislative challenge, named in the discussion as SSUT. Council control of spending means the city council would need to approve any budget changes tied to the reassignments.

At the meeting the mayor summarized the checks and balances he said apply to personnel assignments. “The resources include their pay and salary, their whatever they need to operate, it has to be authorized by the city council,” he said, underlining that the council holds the “power of the purse.” The mayor also noted personnel matters are limited in scope by other laws and the city’s established disciplinary and promotion processes; he said the personnel board “really doesn’t interact with the hiring or assignment process. They are responsible for the promotions of police and firefighters, and they're also the disciplinary board.”

City staff presented the executive director of strategic communications job description to show the duties the mayor said already encompass some governmental and crisis communication responsibilities. The mayor read elements of that existing job description aloud, noting it includes duties to “meet with key staff to identify, resolve problems, develop and implement incident and crisis communication plans and activities” and to “serve as spokesperson for the city of Tuscaloosa.” That was presented as the basis for assigning Dr. Rush to legislative and crisis duties without creating a new job classification.

Council members asked procedural questions about creating job classifications and whether a new class was required for “government relations and external affairs and crisis communication.” Staff replied that the specific job class for that title “has not” been created and that, in the mayor’s view and staff’s presentation, the duties would be performed within Dr. Rush’s current job classification. Staff also said the city is actively recruiting to fill the executive director role as a separate hire, and that some administrative duties would be reassigned to the incoming replacement.

What was not decided: the transcript shows discussion and a budget recommendation by the mayor, but no formal council vote on the personnel assignment or the Fiscal 2026 budget changes was recorded in the provided excerpt. Council members were told they retain authority to define or eliminate positions by resolution and to deny budget authorization if they oppose the change.

The mayor and staff asked council members to review supporting documents included with the agenda and indicated they would return with any needed formal proposals or amendments for the council’s consideration.