Chief Deputy to retire, two promotions made to fill vacancy

During the Nov. 23 Shelby County Commission meeting, the retirement of Shelby County Sheriff’s Department Chief Deputy Ken Burchfield was announced.

Burchfield has served with the sheriff’s office since December 2003 and has spent 17 years with the department, and 13 years with Hoover Police Department prior to that. 

He moved up the ranks from a deputy to captain, and then led the Shelby County Drug Enforcement Task Force. He was transferred to the Administrative Division until his promotion to major in 2015 when he assumed the oversight for the jail along with the administrative division. 

In 2019, he was promoted to Chief Deputy and given oversight of all Operations and Administration at the Sheriff’s office. 

The commission read a resolution highlighting his work and accomplishments during his tenure, and congratulated him on his well-deserved retirement, which will be effective on December 1, 2020. 

Burchfield was in attendance at the meeting and said he was blessed to work for the SCSO and in law enforcement, no one does it better than their department. He thanked his family and many people in the county he worked with throughout his career.

Sheriff John Samaniego said that Burchfield was a loving and compassionate man with a servant’s heart who put the citizens of Shelby County first in all his actions.

“Ken had many accomplishments which he was recognized for, but continued to be the humble team player deflecting credit to his subordinates,” Samaniego said. “He will be missed, but has followed our succession plan training his fellow subordinates to continue our mission” 

Effective Nov. 27, Captain Jay Fondren and Captain Clay Hammac will be promoted to the rank of major. Fondren will have oversight of the Jail and Administrative Division and Hammac will have oversight of Operations including Patrol, Criminal Investigations, Drug Task Force, Compact 2020 and Special Operations group. 

Also during the meeting, the commission awarded three bids: one for roof replacement at the county services building in Pelham to E Cornell Malone Corp. for $89,200; one for an IP based intercom system for the jail and juvenile detention center to Unique Security Inc. for $154,500; and an asphalt bid to Hunt Refining Company at the rate of $375.50 per ton. 

Other items approved by the commission include:

• An approval for an alcohol beverage license was granted for Miami Fusion Cafe, which recently opened in the Greystone area on U.S. 280. 
• A resolution was approved for ADECA-ESG grant administration for CARES Act funds. These must go through the commission for places that need cares act money due to COVID-19
• An election reimbursement agreement with the secretary of state to pay cost of postage of mailing notices to voters
• The appointment of Bill Norton to be appointed to the planning commission to fill the unexpired term of Jay Gunther. 
• Agreement for bridge replacement and approaches on SR-25 over Waxahatchee Creek. The project will cost $2 million, ATRP II funds will cover $1,580,650 and the county will cover $419,349.80.

During the county managers report, Chad Scroggins said this had been a unique year and the county has worked to make the most out of what they have. 

“We are also trying to look at how we help our partners, whatever it might be to help them manage through this crisis as well,” he said. 

CFO Cheryl Naugher gave a sales tax overview for the month of October. The county has collected 29% more than what was budgeted.

The rental tax budget variance was 10% this October vs. last October.

For lodging tax in October, the county collected $135,000 compared to $183,000 last October, a decrease of 26%, but the actual for the budget was a 17% positive increase, as the budget was adjusted to compensate for the effects of COVID-19.

For gas taxes, the actual variance was a decrease and on the budget variance 9% collected more than what the budget was. 

For the Rebuild Alabama funds, the county collected $130,000 this October compared to $126,000 last year, with a positive actual variance of 2.78%. 

“I feel like by the end of the year that will be pretty much on target,” Naugher said. “Those are tracking along pretty much as we expected. We are meeting our budget due to conservative budget practices.”