City council appoints Freddy Drennan as City Manager; makes changes in reporting structure
During last night’s meeting of the Picayune City Council, the council renewed the majority of appointments that were in those roles in the previous administration.
The council also made some changes, including the appointment of current Police Chief Freddy Drennan to the position of City Manager with councilmember Frank Ford making the motion. Drennan takes over for Jim Luke who was elected mayor.
Other appointments made were as follows: City Clerk – Amber Hinton, Court Clerk- Lisa Albritton, City Attorney-Nathan Farmer, City Court Judge Pro Temp – M.D. Tate, City Prosecutor-Manya Creel, City Prosecutor Pro Temp-Tara Kellar.
The council took the appointment of City Court Judge and City Engineer under advisement. This move will keep current City Court Judge Gerald Cruthird and City Engineer Dungan Engineering in those roles until the council makes nominations and votes to approve a new person/company to that role or reappoints the current.
Mayor Jim Luke, councilmembers Jan Miller-Stevens and Larry Breland
The council also made two changes with an entry of Orders and the preparation of any Ordinance regarding the operation of City government. Both were read aloud by councilmember Anna Turnage.
The first was a motion to make a change to the organizational chart of the city of Picayune that the City Clerk, Deputy Clerk, and the office of the city clerk shall be solely supervised by the City Manager. The City Clerk shall cooperate with the City Manager and shall provide full and complete access to any information contained in and/or stored in files, paper or electronic, and/or digital, in possession or custody of the City Clerk. The City Clerk shall assist the City Manager in securing and making duplicate copies and inclusive of providing access to all passwords.
The second was a motion to direct the City Attorney to prepare for consideration at the recess meeting of the city council (next meeting) an Ordinance regarding City Clerk, Treasurer, and Deputy Clerk shall be appointed by, renewed, and supervised by the City Manager.
In the past, the City Clerk reported to the City Council to provide insight on all financial matters of the city.
