[0:01] [Music] [0:14] um [Music] [0:28] um [0:32] [Music] [0:52] [Music] [0:56] so [1:10] right um [1:36] good evening how are you doing tonight [1:42] [Music] [1:52] i guess basically back to you we've got three candidates to get through in a 30 [1:55] minute period so we'll give each candidate 10 minutes [1:59] i would say two minutes per council person [2:04] and then if you want to start or end with two minutes kind of telling us a [2:08] little bit about yourself [2:14] you want me yes [2:17] well i am nicole here i work for jefferson county commission in [2:22] their courthouse in the finance department [2:25] nicole terry okay okay okay okay all right i'm sorry um well [2:31] i live in newtown alabama i was unemployed for a little while um [2:37] until i got into the marriage system with the county um [2:40] prior to that being unemployed my father passed away and we had to kind of think [2:44] of how i was going to get a job and so that [2:47] came about with the jefferson county commissioner is there [2:50] i'm sorry in their finance department so i have been there [2:54] with them for four years i work heavily under the um cfo and the [2:59] deputy director i'm working mainly with [3:02] accounts receivable i get in the checks for this [3:05] for jefferson county i handle the deposits the entries into our [3:10] munich system with everything that comes in from there [3:14] um not married no kids so if you know anyone that you know [3:20] [Music] but um just let's say just me just um [3:26] coming through the system i used to be a senior medicare auditor i did medicare [3:30] for 13 years i got laid off there because they saw a different way [3:34] to go so we lost the contract with the mac with that so that's how i ended up [3:38] at jefferson county at their clients [3:43] we still got another 30 seconds is there anything else you would like to tell us [3:46] about you i think that's it about me i'll hold the [3:49] book pretty much if you guys have any questions just [3:52] feel free to ask me i don't have a problem with answering those questions [3:55] for you okay perfect we'll go ahead and uh go in and [3:58] worry about this manner councilman deploy yours for two minutes [4:03] okay um one of the things we discussed as terry was the treasurer's being the [4:09] cfo and the fact that they work with the [4:15] bond payments because the city does have some debt [4:18] uh and also in preparing them with our city's annual budget [4:22] can you talk to me a little bit about your experience [4:26] in calculating and or taking care of bond payments [4:32] for jefferson county well currently i do not take care of those actual blind [4:37] payments i did the reconciliation of those buying payments to actual [4:41] statements that are submitted from the bank [4:43] so i would look at those and we had a principal account and that actually did [4:46] in the he did dead management and while he was [4:50] looking for a senior accountant i just worked with him [4:52] just to help him reconcile those bond payments to the rest of the initiative [4:56] okay and how about the budgeting process are you involved in any of the buddy [5:02] budding process for jefferson county no ma'am we have a [5:06] budget department they normally get with our [5:09] general ledger team and they are the ones that uh will talk [5:12] about the actual budget in itself i'm on the general level team but [5:16] that side of it no the question came from that [5:19] thank you mr i'll go ahead and defer to captain fox [5:24] well hi mr cherry we appreciate you coming out [5:28] um you just said that you work in the ar department [5:32] right okay and what all uh type of receivables [5:36] do you fall under your domain there pretty much kind of all of them so just [5:42] just general general accounting suffer you expensive [5:45] specifically handle tax collections or tax collection has they have their own [5:50] area they collected in for that what i would do is i would invoice out [5:54] different customers and they would send in different [5:57] payments to me i was even payments from the states in regards to [6:01] business privilege taxes i also do journal entries from [6:04] the tax collector's office in order to submit out the road tax which [6:08] sydney arnold should receive that check once a year as well as the business [6:11] privilege tax check um other ones will be just those various [6:16] odd and end checks that come in tax collectors send [6:18] us a lot of checks but most of them are coming from the state of alabama [6:21] and they're also coming from those customers that are invoiced out on a [6:25] monthly basis very good do you deal with any [6:28] delinquent accounts or collect any of those as far as yes sir i [6:32] actually do um before i got there um there was the [6:35] process of changing over to that human system [6:38] and the immune system we didn't understand at that particular time [6:41] how to retrieve our people that were the oldest money [6:46] so what i did was i kind of researched the system myself and i came up with the [6:50] asian report and based on that agent report we print [6:52] out statements and send them out to our customers um those that are 60 days [6:57] prior to the um the date so if you say we're in april now anybody that's [7:01] january has legals in january and back into 2015 because we converted software [7:06] in 2015 we will send them an actual statement so [7:10] we'll also reach out to them via email in the email my name is [7:14] attached to the email so if they want to set up payment arrangements [7:17] they can contact me and we'll keep those emails and verify that they're [7:21] actually having those payment branches where they should be okay very good so [7:24] then you're very well versed i will take it in as well in [7:28] just clear the principles of being able to administer things that [7:33] disseminate information to the council or to department heads as directed by [7:37] the mayor different things like that operating [7:39] programs what all operating programs of them as far as i care excel kosher [7:47] word we pretty much use all of them um my main one is excel i use it the most [7:54] because i'm sending out mostly spreadsheets to different areas and [7:57] if i need to get in touch with the department heads i would send this [8:00] question to them and kind of tell them this is what i [8:03] need and this is what i'm trying to attack but [8:05] mostly you could stay over time very good thank you so much [8:22] um thank you for coming tonight thank you for having me um [8:27] you know we all have strength and weaknesses so [8:30] in our jobs uh that we currently uh perform [8:33] but what do you consider one of your biggest weaknesses [8:37] if you were chosen as the ironyoc card my biggest weakness i think we'll have [8:42] based on the description of the job i don't really have a lot of resolution [8:47] and ordinance experiences resolutions i do read them [8:53] because i do have to incorporate them into i have to do a little voice entry [8:57] for accounts payable i have to make sure that resolution has been [9:00] signed and is in the minute book prior to me sending out those [9:03] information just like with the city of iowa when they receive that [9:06] road tax or their business privilege tax i have to key in [9:10] their information that's due to the city of irondale i also have to include that [9:14] resolution from the commission to let them know that [9:17] this is okay for us to go ahead and pay this because this is not our [9:20] money this is money that needs to be distributed out to those other [9:23] municipalities but for my weakness that would be the one that i [9:26] i really don't have a lot of experience in but like i said i'm [9:30] a learner so i'm very very teachable so if i get in there and um [9:34] get started on it i don't have a problem with reading up on it [9:38] and just now let it focus out okay thank you thank you very much [9:45] one question that i have is basically let's talk about a time where maybe it [9:52] was a disagreement that you might have had with your [9:55] supervisor or a peer how did you work out [9:58] a negative confrontation when maybe you were right the other person was [10:03] wrong and you had to find common ground okay um well first thing i usually do [10:09] when that happens is we try to meet together not [10:12] necessarily in a group setting because that's not the type of place to handle [10:15] whatever confrontation we need to handle right then [10:18] so we would get together and we would kind of talk about it and to see [10:21] my point and see that person's point and if if they're right [10:25] i have a problem with it being you know hey i'm sorry i've [10:28] maybe read that wrong or i just interpreted that and [10:31] it's fine it's not a problem but we didn't have a conflict where we just [10:35] kind of didn't like each other anymore and just [10:37] didn't talk to yourself because angela jobs you [10:39] even though you may not get along you still have to work together to [10:43] make one common ground thank you very much [10:47] that comes right to the end of our time here uh is there [10:50] any last follow-up questions for this young lady before we move [10:53] to our next candidate [10:58] i want to thank you again mister for being here thank you thank you [11:01] in person thank you thank you it's been it's mutual beautiful i said i hear [11:06] names but don't know who they are but it's great [11:08] to put face to everyone now so i really appreciate you having me here today i [11:12] hope it's good [Music] [11:26] thank you very much for your time miss terry and uh [11:30] i believe mr frank will see you out and everything [11:33] and uh have a lovely evening once again thank you for your time all right thank [11:40] you thank you [11:54] absolutely [12:03] [Music] [12:13] in there [12:27] good evening how are you doing tonight good how are you perfect and what's your [12:30] name my name is jackson [12:34] all right perfect well thank you very much for joining us this is a 30-minute [12:39] meeting with three candidates so we're assigning 10 minutes to each one [12:42] there's four of us a full-person panel right now we're missing someone so [12:46] what we will do is uh if you could just take two minutes just kind of talk about [12:49] yourself and then we will have two minutes each [12:51] to kind of ask you some questions we have your information in front of us [12:55] so please explore yours so again my name is rude jackson and i'm [13:01] a resident of birmingham i grew up in birmingham and [13:04] went to school to age harvard high school [13:07] there i was involved in the segment program which was science and [13:10] engineering and also future business leaders of [13:13] america and from there i went to college i [13:17] pursued a degree in history as well as accounting and starting on a [13:23] master's in public administration and from there i've been working in [13:28] banking auditing and government [13:47] in our discussion is that our treasurer when you fill in the [13:50] old city clerk and treasurer the treasurer is the most important [13:54] person uh within this newspaper because they are [13:58] our chief financial officer and so what can you tell me about um your [14:03] experience in calculating and or taking care of [14:07] bond payments of a municipality you have experience in [14:11] that and so can you please explain yes um so i do calculate and [14:17] make the general measure injuries for our bond payments [14:21] our bond payments are made according to an amortization schedule [14:25] that was figured when the bond was originally issued [14:30] and so each month that we do make those payments [14:33] i apply the payments according to the amortization schedule [14:37] and then at the end of the year i reconcile our geo accounts [14:41] to the amortization schedule to make sure that the totals match [14:45] very good do you have experience in preparing the municipality's annual [14:50] budget i do have experience in working on the [14:54] sales tax and business license portion of the annual budget [14:59] of course i do monthly calculations as far as [15:02] sales tax revenue and business license revenue [15:05] and also quarterly and we send those projections [15:09] to the revenue manager and the finance director [15:12] and so those numbers are used in preparing any variances [15:17] and any reports that are used to prepare the annual budget [15:20] and comprehensive annual report all right one last question based on [15:25] your experience what is the most challenging task for [15:29] you when dealing with the public and how do you approach these challenges [15:35] um so the most challenging task is just providing the answer the right answer to [15:42] the question a lot of our taxpayers and citizens [15:46] come in wanting a simple answer and we do have to find out what the complete [15:50] picture is before we can answer them and provide [15:54] assistance a lot of them come in wanting to start a business [15:58] and they want to know how do i start a business do i just get a business [16:01] license and there is a whole process that we [16:04] have to take them through but of course i do provide information [16:08] about the business license process of that and [16:11] the sales taxes that applies to their business [16:14] and giving them the information that they need to [16:18] do what they need to do in their businesses [16:30] um you have said this you are currently a city clerk [16:43] and how does that interface with your city clerk's job [16:50] so i recommend certain items to the city council to be placed on the agenda [16:54] mainly dealing with abc licenses for the city as well as other [17:00] information regarding the budget and i give that information to the city [17:05] clerk and they prepare it for the agenda um we [17:09] also have penalty waivers that if they are over a certain amount [17:12] they have to be proven approved by the city and so that goes on [17:16] the council agenda to be approved and there are certain [17:20] other majors that have to be able to counsel very good uh and do you have any [17:26] accounts receivable or any invoice or building experience in [17:29] or any i guess [17:37] and really the last question i have is as far as operating systems what [17:41] operating systems are you proficient and familiar with [17:45] in the job you're in now or even outside that [17:48] well there are a lot of there may miss a few but um [17:51] i'm familiar with oracle quickbooks we use munis [17:59] microsoft dynamics and lotus notes um peoplesoft [18:07] i can't think of all of them but those are the primary ones that i've used [18:10] as well as microsoft office for [18:20] thank you thank you jackson for for coming tonight uh taking the time [18:25] to come and talk to us one of the questions i have is we all have [18:30] strengths and weaknesses as we perform our daily duties but what [18:34] would you consider one of your biggest weakness [18:36] if you want to become a simpler idea um i think one of my big biggest weaknesses [18:45] is that i'm very analytical and um some may think that i'm too [18:50] analytical but i like to present all sides of the [18:53] issue and provide as much information as possible [18:57] so it might seem like information overload but i just like [19:00] to be able to provide what is needed to fully understand the big picture of the [19:07] problem okay i noticed on your resume you stated [19:12] you're a certified revenue examiner so it's that um [19:16] as far as the classes or or any uh conferences well not conferences but [19:22] uh to be certified is this an annual [19:26] recertification or every six months it's an annual recertification [19:30] i have to take 40 hours of trouble and eight of those hours i take through the [19:36] altus board and then the remaining hours i usually [19:40] take to the alabama society of cpas and so i'm taking classes almost on a [19:45] monthly basis to maintain my hours and there is a county [19:50] so forgive my hatreds but you said cpa so you're served by cba i guess [19:56] no i'm not a first-rate cpa but we can't take classes through [20:04] that organization because they are a certified body [20:07] okay um classes that are regarding your county [20:11] or anything dealing with taxes um policy that will uh that meets the requirements [20:18] for the cra certification okay okay [20:22] that's all i have thank you sir just one question for me [20:26] i see you can be a little over analytical i know the detriment that [20:30] that comes up just bring to the table how give me um [20:34] an example uh i'll leave the names out obviously [20:38] but a time where you had to boil down a complicated [20:42] potentially negative situation to either someone you worked with or possibly a [20:46] citizen that was asking a question so a lot of times we have citizens who [20:53] will come in and they've already started [20:56] operating their business and they don't know where to start [20:59] because they didn't obtain the proper licenses they didn't [21:04] get the proper education and they didn't set up a sales tax [21:09] account in most cases so what i have to do is [21:13] just understand where they are find out what it is that they're doing in their [21:18] business and then communicate with them what i [21:20] think that they should do going forward making sure they get the business [21:25] license they set up the tax account and they meet with the sba or other [21:29] departments in the city that can help them [21:32] and that usually will help resolve the problem are you guys going to do that [21:36] process yes all right thank you very much [21:40] one minute left for any follow-up questions mrs jackson i just want to let [21:44] you know that i'm delighted to personally meet [21:46] you finally and i want to thank you for your interest [21:50] in filling this position thank you i too want to thank you for your time ms [21:55] jackson and thank you for your interest in this position [21:58] bless someone see you now [22:24] um [22:34] good evening how are you doing tonight good evening council members it's a [22:38] pleasure [22:44] we've got about 10 minutes here um and so and there are four of us we've got a [22:47] gentleman that is missing so feel free to take about two minutes to [22:51] describe yourself tell us a little bit about yourself and [22:54] then we'll take about two minutes to ask you some follow-up questions [22:56] okay um would i like to [Music] [23:02] introduce myself on vanita brown i'd like you to know that i [23:06] am a very driven person i think that i i [23:12] lead from integrity i have [23:18] extensive background with acting as a liaison between various [23:24] departments [23:27] and i also currently work as a senior accountant [23:34] where i am responsible for [23:37] [Music] bookkeeping also responsible for [23:44] bank reconciliations [23:48] making reports that we need to turn into the state every month [23:55] i have experienced leading i have experienced um [24:04] dealing with the public [24:07] conflict resolution [24:10] and if if you choose me for this position i [24:16] believe that i would be a great fit because i am able to [24:22] um i'm able to just uh i'm sorry i'm nervous [24:30] i'm not able to um act with precision [24:37] and my in any given duty that i'm i'm assigned to [24:44] and overall i just i think that i would be a [24:50] good fit because i'm able i'm ready [24:54] and eager to learn new things and also bring the skills that i currently have [25:02] to the city of irondale in this position and i guess that's it [25:11] council on customer [Music] [25:17] and i want to thank you for your interest in this position [25:20] um we've done phone interviews and so i'm going to focus on the questions that [25:25] i've asked of all the two prior candidates yes and [25:29] that is your experience as because i'm looking [25:33] at it for the treasurer you have you've given [25:36] me information on city clerk the treasure is my concern here what is [25:41] your experience in calculating and we're [25:43] taking care of bond payments of the municipality [25:47] if you have it can you please explain what you do [25:50] in bond payments [25:54] we [Music] [26:03] i have experience in cash management i also have experience [26:10] in um receiving payments from municipalities [26:17] and also giving payments to municipalities [26:20] as far as bond payments in particular i don't have [26:27] that kind of experience [26:31] do you have experience in preparing the municipality's annual budget [26:49] we're all just so real quickly um you did say that you worked some [26:55] with i guess receivables in some of the cities and then also [26:59] payment processing for those correct that's correct okay [27:02] and how does that dovetail into any administrative or clerical leads [27:07] which you know as the treasurer as councilmember taylor is alluding to [27:11] that's going to be a very important part of the position [27:14] but the city clerk part of being able to disseminate the information [27:18] what operating systems or tools you have in that realm or is that [27:23] something you rely more on a team today we do work as a team and in the tax [27:29] collector's office but we do utilize the [27:34] earring system and [Music] [27:38] what that does what we what it does is we'll um [27:41] enter the information into the e-ring system [27:45] and it will determine what the millage for each parcel is it really [27:51] breaks down all of the calculations for us [27:56] so that we're able to pull that information um [28:02] after we're able to navigate once we're able to navigate through the software [28:06] we're able to pull up that information with ease okay so you're fairly [28:12] comfortable using several different platforms of [28:16] information dissemination and also calculation or retention [28:19] that's correct because the we use e-ring there's also munis that we use [28:26] we also i have experience in some of the gis mapping software [28:34] that's used at the city as well all of that information we use [28:38] to get whatever the situation is we use it [28:42] to get an overall understanding of the big picture and [28:48] we're also able to get [28:52] disseminate that information into various reports that need to be sent to [28:57] the state every month and the reader as well [29:04] yes good evening thank you for coming tonight thank you for having me [29:12] the question i have is you know we all have a [29:15] strength and weaknesses when it comes to performing our jobs [29:19] what would be one of your biggest challenges [29:22] or weakness if you were chosen as the city clerk here in ireland [29:30] one of the things that i have been working on [29:34] is i tend to be an introvert speaking in front of people may [29:41] sometimes come off a little a little [29:46] um challenging for me i understand councilman [29:49] we're just right but we're just regular people [29:52] we are we are but one of the things that um i have done is i've taken [29:59] speech classes to help me um [30:05] to help me speak better and portray my thoughts better to [30:10] everyone and also i've joined the toastmasters my local toastmasters [30:15] club that i'm able to speak better and feel more comfortable speaking in [30:21] front of an audience regardless of what the [30:24] subject is how long are you man i've i've been in [30:29] it for a year now okay yes birmingham city classic [30:33] massachusetts manchester um [30:36] [Music] [30:41] so that would probably um be my biggest challenge [30:45] um it's something that i continue to work on [30:50] vigorously so that it isn't a challenge for me anymore [30:56] well thank you and greetings and thank you for your interest in the position in [31:01] your time tonight one question uh you mentioned conflict [31:05] resolution previously um can you kind of take us [31:08] through a time maybe where you had to enter into [31:12] some conflict resolution with either maybe a citizen that was [31:16] going through some things or possibly a supervisor or work here [31:20] and how that was handled and resolved sure [31:24] um there was a particular instance in the department that i [31:31] currently work in and there is a particular way [31:36] that my new supervisor wanted me to a new a particular format that my [31:43] supervisor wanted me to turn in for bank [31:47] reconciliation and it was [31:52] it wasn't um it wasn't a hard thing to do [31:57] but it would have at the time we were at the height of our tax collection [32:03] season and some of the things that she wanted me to do [32:08] would have been it would have been more time consuming than it normally was [32:12] what i did was simply get a make a copy and of the format of how [32:19] she wanted me to do it as opposed to what it is now [32:23] and also explain how that what changes that need to be made [32:29] and how that would affect my time management [32:32] with other deadlines that needed to be met [32:35] so after speaking with her about it we were able to come up with a [32:41] resolution where we can incorporate some of the ideas [32:44] that she had wanted me to incorporate into [32:48] performance as well as keeping without me having to spend a lot [32:54] of time doing it so and that well that's the charge with [32:58] the supervisor there's been times when i worked in the [33:02] tag unit with jefferson county where we would [33:06] have specific different customers that may [33:10] come in and they don't realize that they have a fine [33:13] that they have to pay in order to get their tenants they may [33:16] get really upset and they're they're they're wanting to take [33:22] it out on the cashier that's in front of them and the [33:26] cashier is really just doing their job telling [33:29] them this is i can't take your payment unless you pay the whole thing [33:33] there's been plenty of times that i've had to come and just explain it to the [33:37] customer again just to let them know it really [33:41] isn't anything that we can do but we want to help you in every way [33:45] that we can so after explaining to them and also making [33:51] suggestions how they can go about resolving the [33:54] issue and even going as far sometimes as to [33:58] even like speak with someone in montgomery to [34:01] get them to maybe extend the payment period so that [34:06] this person can actually save money to make a payment without [34:10] having to incur further fines and that kind of thing so [34:16] i've done that many times and it really helps when [34:20] the customer knows that they're being hurt [34:23] and also that you genuinely want to help them [34:27] you're not just passing them along or just saying that [34:30] we can't do anything for you they really want to know that you're there for them [34:34] and and you're listening to them and you want to help them [34:39] and most times when i have gone through that process [34:43] we've had a smooth transition you know we've made it so that they can come back [34:47] and make their payments and get their tags so that they can drive to [34:51] work and continue life as it was before perfect thank you very [34:56] much you're welcome uh before you let the [34:58] show let you go is there any final follow-up question [35:00] no questions but thank you so much mrs brown for coming and for your interest [35:05] thank you so much thank you very much [35:28] um that concludes our our workstation for [35:33] the evening we're now going to go ahead and transition into our special call [35:36] council meeting uh councilman boxing if you're not going [35:38] to open this up [35:41] everybody would join me for a moment we thank you that you're allowed us to be [35:45] here thank you that you've provided a pathway [35:47] to join you again help us to understand and know the [35:51] things you have us to do helps to serve the citizens here's the [35:54] best of our ability give us your ability to do it what [36:04] [Music] for which it stands one nation under god [36:10] indivisible with liberty and justice for all [36:16] thank you sir we'll go ahead and go into roblox [36:23] council wilson and myself president john mullen is absent this evening [36:28] all right so our one and only uh agenda item [36:31] tonight uh basically the members of the city council [36:34] the city needs to convene an executive session for two purposes [36:38] number one to discuss with the attorney the legal ramifications of legal [36:43] of and legal options for controversies not yet being [36:47] litigated but immediately likely to be litigated [36:50] number two to discuss preliminary negotiations [36:53] involving matters of training or commerce in which the city of irondale [36:57] is in competition with other governmental entities in [37:01] alabama and thirdly to discuss the consideration the city [37:04] council is willing to offer or accept when considering the purchase sale [37:09] exchange lease or market value of real property ms danielson has [37:13] provided the city council with a written statement [37:16] that executive session is appropriate under alabama code [37:20] 36-25a 83 and 8-7 to discuss pending litigation [37:26] therefore i need a motion to go into executive session [37:30] i'll make a motion to go into exactly session [37:33] wilson has made a all right we have a second [37:37] mr pennington uh please conduct a roll call vote of this motion and record [37:41] each councilman's council person's vote [37:47] council owned bear yes councilman box yes [37:50] joshua wilson yes and myself yes thank you [37:54] those presidents are advised that this body has voted to enter into executive [37:58] session as required by law any deliberation [38:01] between the members of this body relating to these issues will be [38:04] conducted in an open meeting this council will not reconvene [38:08] after this executive session the city council will now enter executive session [38:16] thank you