City Hires 11 People, Seeks to Hire Eight More

The City of Smyrna gained some new employees this month and honored some long-standing ones for their years of service.

Since July 1, the city has hired 11 people to serve in the police department, fire department, police communications and parks and recreation department, said Kay Bolick, human resources director.

Teri Anulewicz, Ward 3 council member, is also chair of the human resources committee.

“I think it’s great these positions are being filled and it’s giving opportunities to folks to come and join the city,” she said. “We have a really good group of employees.”

Smyrna will also be hiring eight new employees in the coming weeks. Four of the available positions will replace the public works officers who were earlier this month after being charged with stealing a woman’s freezer.

The four remaining positions are for a parks and recreation events coordinator, a detention officer, a sanitation crew worker and a certified police officer. 

The deadline to apply for the public works positions expired Friday, but applications are being accepted for the parks and recreation position through 5 p.m. Sunday. The deadline to apply for the detention and police officer positions is 5 p.m. July 29, while the last day to apply for the sanitation crew worker position is 5 p.m. July 31. More details can be found at the city’s website.

The city also took time to honor some of its long-standing employees in July by presenting them with pins to mark their years of service.

David Elrod was honored with a pin for his five years of service to the Smyrna Police Department. Teresa Forbes received a pin honoring the 10 years she has worked in the public works department. Frank Martin, assistant public works directors, has worked for the city for 25 years and also received a pin.

“One of the things that we do take a lot of pride in is that we don’t have a lot of turnover,” she said. “Especially the past few years it’s remarkable how every city employee, with a few exceptions, has pulled together and done whatever it takes and worked as hard as they needed to make our city succeed. It’s something that I marvel at every day and I’m so appreciative of our employees. I’m glad that we can recognize the loyalty and the hard work of our employees.”