SUMMERDALE — The ethics of a Summerdale town employee has come into question.

During its regular workshop last week, the Summerdale Town Council debated the status of Public Works Department employee Tony Garland.

According to Summerdale Mayor David Wilson, Garland was hired several years ago as a sewer operator and transferred to Public Works upon taking a building inspections test in 2010.

“But he failed the test without telling the Council,” Wilson said in the work session.

The mayor pointed out that Alabama law doesn’t require a municipal building inspector to pass a certification test.

“But the town of Summerdale wishes it,” Wilson said, adding that the town had paid $1,100 for Garland to take the certification test.

The mayor explained that he discovered the situation last week when the International Organization for Standardization, which creates building-code standards, notified him about the situation.

“I got a call one afternoon from the ISO people,” he said, explaining that he subsequently sent Garland a letter. “I told him it’s not fair for you to be making more than your superviser when you’re just riding around in the truck with him,” Wilson said. “He’s a good employee, but something’s out of sync.”

Summerdale Mayor Pro Tem Norma Wilson Giles expressed concern over Garland’s failure to report that he did not pass the certification test two years ago.

“My feelings on that are that there’s an element of dishonesty there,” she said at the work session. “The class costs $900 and the tests costs $200.”

Certified Building Inspector Paul Vishaway explained that testing for certification is conducted in two parts.

“Residential is a two-hour exam,” he told the Council. “It’s not that bad. But the commercial exam is a four-hour exam.”

Wilson asked Vishaway how much confrontation about building codes he has when making inspections.

“I take the code book with me,” he replied.

Vishaway also expressed his support of having a building inspector certified.

“I think certification pushes a lot of weight,” he told the Council.

Further discussion resulted in the Council bumping Garland’s payscale to 25 cents less than his superviser.

“This is temporary,” Wilson said, “until he passes the exam.”