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Board pauses fire department promotions and hiring pending legal, administrator review
Summary
The board tabled several fire-department personnel actions — promotions, retroactive pay and new hires — and asked the county attorney and administrator to review legal and policy implications before any approvals.
Claiborne County supervisors voted Feb. 3 to table promotion and hiring requests from the county fire department pending review by the county attorney and county administrator.
Chief Paul Schaeffer asked the board to approve a promotion, retroactive pay for an assistant chief and hiring of three firefighters and an administrative assistant. The chief told the board the changes would address vacancies and restore department operations. The board raised a procedural question: personnel actions should be coordinated with the county administrator and processed according to county policy.
Attorney Stingley advised caution about retroactive pay, noting constitutional and statutory limits and the need for clear paperwork at the time of a promotion. "It's against constitution and the statute to provide retroactive pay... if at the time they were promoted, you didn't specify what the pay would be," the attorney said. County Administrator Gregory Reed said he would verify whether paperwork and approvals were in place and asked for time to consult state rules.
Supervisor Dorsey moved to send the matter to the county attorney for legal analysis; Supervisor Chambers seconded. The motion carried. The board also voted to add the fire department items to the agenda for discussion but then tabled final action pending the requested legal review and administrator coordination.
Ending: The board asked Chief Schaeffer to coordinate with County Administrator Reed, who will advise on statutory and payroll implications; no personnel changes took effect at the meeting.
