An Alabama company will be hired to conduct a salary study and develop a pay scale for employees of the Vicksburg Housing Authority, board members decided Tuesday night.

Board members approved the recommendation of executive director Dannie Walker to hire Decisions Inc. of Crane Hill, Ala,, for $5,900.

“What they will do is interview our employees to learn what they do in their jobs, and compare their job descriptions to jobs in housing authorities of similar size, and other government agencies with similar positions,” Walker said.

He said the interviews and comparisons will be used to determine the salary schedule. “They will recommend an entry level salary, step increases and a maximum salary for the positions,” he said.

Walker said the study will not set job classifications and job levels. Once the study is completed and the recommendations implemented, he said, Decisions Inc. will provide a supervisory manual and staff training to help prepare employees for the new salary schedule. He did not say when the study would begin.

In another matter, board members approved a $401,500 contract with Lubin Enterprises of Memphis to replace windows and security screens on 150 houses in the Rolling Acres Estates and replace windows, security screens and exterior doors at the VHA office on Elizabeth Circle.

Commissioners also:

• Learned the Housing Authority will receive $681,103 in capital funding for 2011. Walker said the money is 14 percent less than the $795,000 the authority received in 2010.

He said the 2011 allocation is 89 percent less than the authority is eligible for, “And in 2012, we can expect less. We were halfway through our (2011) fiscal year before we found out how much we were getting for 2011.”

• Approved writing off $86,838 in bad debts.

• Approved writing off nine refrigerators and seven gas ranges as irreparable.

• Approved invoices for April, May and June and financial reports for March, April and May.

• Received an update on erosion control at Valley Court.

• Received an update on Tenant Career Services and the Personal and Professional Development Program.

• Received an update on the VHA’s summer programs, which ended Friday.

• Received an update on the applicant waiting list and vacancies. Walker said the authority has 175 applicants on file, with two vacancies at Rolling Acres and three at Waltersville Estates.