Kathy Ray is first woman Paris mayor

Ray, who was just elected to the Paris Commission on Nov. 8 in her first-ever try at public office, was chosen by her fellow commissioners Thursday to take over the mayor’s seat.

Ray and Vickey Roberts were both in their first meeting as city commissioners.

Ray was the only nominee for mayor. She will replace Carlton Gerrell, who did not run for re-election to the commission this year.

“I am honored and humbled to be the first woman mayor of the City in Paris in almost two hundred years (the city celebrates its 200th birthday on Sept. 23, 1823). Thank you to my fellow commissioners for your support and confidence. I am also thankful for those who encouraged me during the campaign. As a commission, I hope we all work together for what is best for Paris.”

Roberts was elected by her fellow commissioners as vice mayor.

CITY GOES TO FOUR-DAY WORK WEEK

The commission agreed Thursday to support a plan by City Manager Kim Foster to change the work week for city employees from five to four days. They will still work 40 hours in a week.

That will be done with 10-hour work days Mondays through Thursdays for those employees in city hall jobs. That includes the finance/business office, administration, building inspection, codes enforcement, planning and zoning, and police records.

Paris city hall will be closed on Fridays. The new system will go into effect Jan. 3.

“That will give us a month to get some feedback on it,” said Foster. “If we got a lot of negative pushback from the community, we can always undo it.”

She said one thing she hears from citizens is that they can’t conveniently get city business done because city hall is closed whenever they (the citizens) are off work themselves.

The current business hours of city hall are 7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Mondays through Fridays.

The new hours starting Jan. 3 will be 7 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Mondays through Thursdays, with city hall closed Fridays.

“And, my first priority on this is that our services do not suffer whatsoever,” Foster said.

She said she had discussed the idea with the various department heads. Those departments outside city hall have already had somewhat flexible hours that fit their departments the best, and that will continue.

That would include things like the city animal shelter, landfill and civic center.

Foster said officials in the city of White House had told her the four-day work week has worked well there for the last 10-plus years.