Trussville City Council voted on Sept. 27 unanimously to leave the Personnel Board of Jefferson County (PBJC), a move they have been considering since 2019, according to Mayor Buddy Choat.

“We just felt like quite honestly, one size doesn’t fit all anymore,” he said, “And Trussville is fortunate enough to be a city that has grown faster than any other municipality in the county [according to U.S. Census data]. And along with that came challenges with personnel and just trying to keep up. We just found that it was probably in our best interest to create our own civil service where we could be more directed towards the needs and the positions in Trussville.”

The Jefferson County Personnel Board was established in 1935 “to centralize the evaluation of public service job candidates” according to Bham Wiki. Today PBJC services include all personnel hiring, job description postings, payroll administration, equity and inclusion programs, and other training programs for employees of any of the 17 (16 after Trussville has fully withdrawn) cities or 5 county-wide organizations that are current members, according to their website.

Representatives for other PBJC member cities agreed with Choat’s assessment that what’s good for one city might not be good for others. But those who responded to inquiries from the Lede said they remain satisfied overall with PBJC services.

Trussville (population of 26,520 as of July 1, 2022) has added almost 2,500 people since 2010 for a 9.5 percent growth rate, according to U.S. Census data. According to Choat, the PBJC had a difficult time keeping up.