May 20, 2021
Calling her a beautiful woman, the present of the Century Town Council told a job applicant that he would never hire her for an open positions despite her qualifications.
The town council has twice rejected the hiring of two employees as recommended by Mayor Ben Boutwell.
In March, the council refused to approve the employees hired by the mayor because he violated the town’s charter. The charter states that the mayor will present his employee selections to the town council to be approved or denied. The council can only vote yes or no on the mayor’s choice; the charter does not give the council any authority to hire anyone not recommended by the mayor.
May 5, 2021
Three new members have been appointed to the Century Charter Review Committee, and the town council has given the group the go ahead to work on rewriting the town’s charter.
The Century Town Council appointed an 11-member Century Charter Review Committee in August 2019 to explore the town charter the document that establishes the town, outlines its powers and spells out how it should operate. The charter has not been updated in almost 40 years, and that often creates problems in the operation of the town.
The previous committee lost six members along the way, with just five people remaining. During an extended application period this year, three people applied to join.
April 24, 2021
The Century Town Council will try again next month to vote on raising the franchise fee they charge Gulf Power.
On April 19, the council was set to hold a required public hearing on the ordinance, but they did not have a required quorum after three members missed the meeting. Council members James Smith, Jr. Leonard White and Sandra McMurray-Jackson were not present.
The public hearing will now be held during the 7 p.m. May 3 council meeting to raise the Gulf Power franchise fee, an an increase for Escambia River Electric is also under consideration.
In 1994, the franchise fees for both utilities were increased from 3% to 5%, and now the council is raising the fee to 6%.