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The Decherd Board of Mayor and Aldermen approved 13 rate adjustments totaling $1,583.75 on April 11 after meters were misread by inexperienced water/wastewater employees, prompting discussion about what to do about the department’s personnel problems.

Alderman Justin Stubblefield, who was selected as vice mayor at the meeting, questioned why four of six employees in the department had recently quit their jobs.

Former department employees Trenton Vann and Hunter Oliver were questioned by the board about what has happened within the department.

Vann said that when Superintendent Eric Bradford resigned and left the department, the working conditions greatly changed.

“When Eric left, everything went sideways,” he said.

Vann explained that he had been with the department for eight months while Oliver had been there for four months. He said, as inexperienced as he personally was with handling the meter-reading duties, he was the one who was left to train Oliver.

Vann said the working conditions reached a point where he could no longer continue working.

Stubblefield summed up the situation.

“We’ve got a huge problem with the Water Department when we’ve got two people left,” he said, adding that all the employees left for the same reasons.

Stubblefield questioned Vann and Oliver about what has occurred. He asked how things have gone since Michael O’Neal, who replaced Bradford in leading the department, took over the helm.

Vann said later that the problems the department is facing are widespread.

“It’s all Decherd. You can’t just blame one person,” he said. “It’s been a group effort — everybody with the Water Department.”

In other business, Stubblefield questioned Codes Official Dennis Doney about why a permit was issued to allow vinyl siding to be placed on a house on Spring Street that is undergoing condemnation proceedings.

Doney said he was obligated to issue the permit because he was required to, based on how the city’s codes were written.

Stubblefield said the city’s codes need to be reviewed and updated because it makes no sense to allow a permit to put siding on a building that could be physically kicked down.

Doney, who is scheduled to retire on May 2, said he has agreed to work part-time until a replacement to fill his position has been hired.