The City of Andalusia is getting out of the business of hiring temporary employees after the council adopted a resolution Tuesday authorizing a contract with Three Notch Staffing.
“Basically, if we have a position or job we need to accomplish, we’ll talk to the temp agency and say what we’re willing to pay for that job. They do all of the paperwork, drug testing, etc., “ City Clerk John Thompson said.
Thompson said changes to federal requirements no longer allow entities like the city to hire a temporary employee for the time needed, and issue a1099 at the end of the year. Instead, he said, those employees must be held to the same hiring standards – like drug testing – as any other employee, and must receive a W-2 at year’s end.
“They’ve agreed to review this with us every 90 days to ensure that it’s working,” Thompson said.
Temporary employees would include those hired for specialty events, like Candyland, or for youth sports, or other short-term jobs.
South Alabama Regional Airport Manager Jed Blackwell couldn’t keep the good news to himself when speaking to the Andalusia Rotary Club Tuesday.
“We have a new company that will be leasing the Standard Aero/Vector facility,” Blackwell said.
The company notified the South Alabama Regional Airport Authority earlier this year that it would vacate SARA.
“As soon as they said they were leaving, (Covington County Economic Development Commission Executive Director) Rick Clifton and Mayor (Earl) Johnson got to work,” Blackwell said. “They have a lease in place that is contingent upon the company receiving a government contract.”
That contract – for $173 million over five years – was just awarded, Blackwell said. It is for upgrades to military aircraft.
“This will pay us great dividends in the future,” Blackwell said.
The airport cannot yet announce the company’s name, he said.
Nathaniel “Buddy” Waller, whose specialized engineering career has taken him all over the world, is among the five Andalusia High School alumni being honored this week as AHS Outstanding Graduates.
Waller, a 1972 graduate of Andalusia High School, is the president and founder of N. Waller & Associates Consulting, a professional engineering firm specializing in electrical marine automation and propulsion systems. His work has taken him to Alaska, Hawaii, Australia, Bahrain, Dubai, Japan, Kwajalein, Korea, New Zealand, Norway, Philippines, Scotland and Singapore.
He earned an electrical engineering degree from the University of South Alabama, and spent 16 years working as an engineer for General Electric.
He currently makes Mobile his home, but when in Andalusia, he serves as a volunteer reserve deputy with the Covington County Sheriff’s Department.
His nominator, Doris Tyler, wrote, “His resume attests to the fact that he established a very sophisticated and high tech maritime electrical engineering firm that has carried him to many corners of the world. With his many achievements, he still remains a very humble individual who takes great pride in calling Andalusia home.”
His lifelong friend and AHS classmate, Richard Jones, wrote in a letter of support, “I’ve been with him in the air, on the ground and under the sea. I can say with all honesty that Buddy is the smartest, hardest working, kindest and most generous person I have ever known, a credit to his family, his town, his college and especially to Andalusia High School.
Sheriff Dennis Meeks also wrote a letter supporting his nomination, saying that Waller joined the Covington County Sheriff’s Reserve Unit in 2014.
“After spending a lot of his career working out of the country, he said he was ready to stop traveling as much and wanted to do something to give back to his community. Buddy has become one of the best officers in my reserve unit.”
Frank King wrote, “He has always strived to be the best role model for his friends and grandchildren in every part of their lives.”
Graduate Award attributed their successes to foundations learned from their parents and teachers growing up in Andalusia.
Honored Friday were John Anderson Sr., Dr. Bill Cumbie, Michael Hartwell, John Northrop, and Nathaniel “Buddy” Waller.
Evelyn Anderson, who also is an AHS graduate, accepted for her late husband (Class of 1953), who enjoyed a successful agribusiness career. Andalusia High School students were well prepared for college, she said, adding that in her husband’s first term at Auburn, the chemistry professor asked him and classmate Ed Henderson to remain after class after scoring their first exams.
The two freshmen weren’t sure if they were in trouble.
“He asked them where they went to high school,” she said. “When they answered ‘Andalusia,’ the professor said, ‘I thought I recognized James Arthur Wilson’s work.’ ”
Cumbie (Class of 1967) said he was particularly influenced by his parents, and by AHS teachers Patricia Seymour and Jim Nettles.
“When asked where I grew up, it is always with great pride that I say Andalusia, Ala.,” he said.
Hartwell (Woodson, Class of 1967), a physicist who was involved in cutting edge civilian research before returning to Alabama to work at Redstone Arsenal, was unable to attend the ceremony.
“Andalusia is my bedrock foundation for a better life than I ever thought possible,” Northrop (Class of 1968), who had successful careers in journalism and education administration, said. “I learned a few things. No 1 is that every personal success is a product. Not one achieves anything of value on own.”
Northrop said he bugged Curtis Thomasson, then the AHS yearbook sponsor, to allow him to be a photographer. That high school experience led to his first career.
Waller (Class of 1972) said he learned business principles from his father, who owned a service station. Work ethic, integrity, and civility in business are most important, he said.
Waller is an electrical engineer who said he got his big break while employed at GE.
“My manager happened to be from Red Oak,” he said. Waller was competing against a fellow employee from New Orleans for a role in a five-year project developing a new class ships for the Navy.
The supervisor told him, “Since you were from Andalusia, I thought you would have a better work ethic.”
Waller later left GE and started an international business.
The Andalusia High School Outstanding Graduate Award was established in 2007 by the Class of 1948 Foundation, now the Andalusia High School Scholarship Foundation. The award is designed to honor those graduates of Andalusia High School, Woodson High School and Ralph Bunche High School whose personal lives, professional accomplishments and community service exemplify the ideals of Andalusia High School.
Michael Hartwell, a physicist who spent most of his career in the aerospace industry, is among the five Andalusia High School alumni being honored this week as AHS Outstanding Graduates.
Hartwell, a 1967 graduate of Woodson High School, was the first p physics major and graduate of Alabama A&M University, and completed graduate studies in physics at MIT.
At MIT, he worked on a research team with Professor Rainer Weiss, which recently was recognized for detecting ripples in the fabric of space-time, which was hailed as one of the most momentous discoveries in the field of physics and validates a final part of Albert Einstein’s theory of relativity.
After graduation from MIT, he worked with Hughes Aircraft Company in Los Angeles, where he contributed to the design and development of the early Satellite Business System (SBS) communication satellites.
He returned to Alabama and spent 31 years in federal civilian service at Redstone Arsenal, where he rose to deputy program executive officer for the Executive Office for Missiles and Space, where he was responsible for more than 1,800 employees and more than $3.6 billion in funding.
During his civil service career, Mr. Hartwell received numerous awards to include: recognition as one of the
S. Army Materiel Command’s Top Ten Outstanding Personnel (out of 70,000 employees world-wide); two Assistant Secretary of the Army Commendations; two Meritorious Civilian Service Medals; the Superior Civilian Service Medal; the Achievement Medal for Civilian Service; the Ernest A. Young Logistician of the Year, the U. S. Society of Logistics Engineers Logistician of the Year; and the Secretary of the Army’s Life-Cycle Logistician of the Year. He also received awards for support to Operations: Just Cause, Desert Shield, Desert Storm, Iraqi Freedom, Enduring Freedom, and the Global War on Terrorism.
In addition, he has served in two church pastorates over the last 31 years. He served as pastor-teacher of the Indian Creek Primitive Baptist Church in Huntsville, and now serves as shepherd of the St Andrew Primitive Baptist Church in Madison, Ala. He served as treasurer of the Greater Huntsville Interdenominational Ministerial Fellowship, mission director and parliamentarian for the Mallard Creek Primitive Baptist Association, and on the board of directors for Hospice of Huntsville.
He also is on the board of directors of 4Sight Inc., a 50l(c) organization that establishes Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) centers to bring STEM awareness, education, and participation throughout the community.
The Andalusia High School Outstanding Graduate Award was established in 2007 by the Class of 1948 Foundation, now the Andalusia High School Scholarship Foundation. The award is designed to honor those graduates of Andalusia High School, Woodson High School and Ralph Bunche High School whose personal lives, professional accomplishments and community service exemplify the ideals of Andalusia High School.