Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

By JOYANNA LOVE/ Managing Editor

The Clanton City Council met city clerk nominee Jonathan Seale of Columbiana during a work session on Nov. 5.

No votes can be made during a work session, but the nomination is expected to be discussed again in the Nov. 9 voting session.

Seale is currently the town clerk and treasurer for Harpersville in Shelby County, a position he has held since April 2019.

In that time, Seale was a part of bringing direct deposit for employees, organizing and digitizing city cemetery records, assisting with budget preparation, keeping records of the council meetings as well as handling many accounting and human resources-related tasks. He was also the chief election officer.

Prior to that, he had worked as the interim executive administrative assistant to the city manager in Pelham.

Seale is working on his clerk certification and his municipal revenue officer certification through the University of Alabama. He already has a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science.

During the work session, Seale talked about his experience and answered questions from the Clanton City Council.

Seale said he felt his experiences have given him a good knowledge base and skill level to serve the city of Clanton.

“Municipal government is pretty much the same,” Seale said. “We are pretty much all governed under the same laws of the State of Alabama … (with) the same issues, the same types of problems.”

He said “getting used to the layout” of the city would take some time. He commented that he was interested in the Clanton position because he really enjoyed municipal government.

“There are a lot of things going on here, and I am excited about it,” Seale said.

Mayor Jeff Mims had recommended Seale for the position at the last voting session. However, the motion failed.

Debbie Orange has been Clanton city clerk for the past 35 years. During the work session, Councilwoman Mary Mell Smith said Orange had agreed to stay until Nov. 30.

Mims said she could be appointed as an interim clerk to stay in the role until that time.

Council members said it was good to meet Seale and talk to him. The Council was interested in being able to offer direct deposit. Councilman Awlahjaday Agee said he would also like to see the city be able to accept debit and credit cards for water bills.

If Seale is approved on Nov. 9 as the city clerk, it would be two weeks before he would start work.

The Council also discussed employee retention, raises that had been promised to the sanitation department and establishing an on-call procedure with corresponding pay for the water department during the work session.

The on-call procedure and sanitation department raises are expected to be considered at the Council’s Nov. 9 voting session at 5 p.m. at Clanton City Hall.