TIFTON — A final decision could not be made by the Tifton City Council at Monday’s meeting regarding revising the employee handbook to allow retirees to be rehired on a full-time basis under certain circumstances.

When voting on the matter, no motion was made to approve or not approve the amendment; therefore, the vote died for a lack of a motion.

Interim City Manager Hunter Walker explained to council members that the matter was discussed at a previous workshop, which was presented by Human Resources Director Carla Cooper.

According to the current wording in the handbook, employees who are receiving city of Tifton pension benefits and are hired to work part-time are titled rehired pensioners. A rehired pensioner is limited to part-time status. A rehired pensioner will need to re-vest for current pension benefits to be affected by plan changes or to earn additional benefits. Rehired pensioners are limited to 1,040 hours of work per year.

The proposed change was that the city will have the option to rehire pensioners to work full- or part-time. Rehired retirees will only accrue additional pension benefits if employed on a full-time basis. In addition, rehired retirees must comply with IRS, federal and state regulations, as well as the retirement plan for the city of Tifton.

The IRS does not allow for in-service distribution — someone could not retire and come back to work without a distinct separation of working. The proposed plan calls for a 90-day separation.

Rehired pensioners would not be required to re-vest but would be required to contribute 5 percent of their salary as set forth in the pension plan and would fall under the 1.5 percent multiplier.

Council members expressed some concerns about the amendment. Councilman Jack Folk said he didn’t like that employees could retire and then come back and work full-time. Councilman Johnny Terrell called it “double dipping” for retirees to be able to come back full-time and get retirement and pension.

Vice Mayor Wes Ehlers asked city attorney Rob Wilmot if there would be any legal ramifications concerning city employees who worked part-time in the past but went over their hours, if they decided to approve the amendment. Wilmot said there would not be any legal ramifications.

Walker reminded the council that they would not be required to rehire a retiree full-time; they have the option to rehire them full- or part-time. He also noted this wouldn’t happen very often.

In other business, Walker, who has been serving as interim city manager for about two weeks, gave a brief update. He said with the resignation of Finance Director Lois Love, Karen Sanders is serving as interim. He said they are moving forward with filling the position, as well as filling the city manager position.

When discussing the fire department, he said working with the county, they have successfully allocated the distribution of the SPLOST V funds for fire services. He said they still need to agree on the division of assets. He addressed other issues and then the council voted to go into executive session to discuss legal matters.

Additionally, at a recent special called meeting, the council approved the budget amendment for the Department of Justice JAG grant, where funds will be used to purchase body cameras for Tifton police officers. Police Chief Buddy Dowdy said all patrol officers will have a body camera. The council also discussed the direction of the Planning and Zoning Board and how both the city and county boards can work together.