(a)(1) There is created and established a three member personnel board for Lawrence County, Alabama, with the members to be appointed as follows:

a. One member shall be appointed by the state legislative delegation representing the county.

b. One member shall be appointed by the county commission.

c. One member shall be appointed by collective agreement of the sheriff, tax assessor, tax collector, and judge of probate.

(2) The appointments shall be made no later than the twenty-fifth day immediately after May 7, 1992.

(b) The personnel board created in subsection (a) shall implement and administer the Lawrence County Personnel System using as a general guide for the system the manual for the system authored by Auburn University. The board may revise the pay scale as it deems appropriate. Any revision shall not lower the salary of any employee. The personnel board shall carefully and zealously monitor the implementation and administration of the personnel system to provide equal and fair treatment to all county personnel employed under the system.

(c)(1) The Sheriff of Lawrence County is authorized to appoint and employ a chief deputy and a chief clerk without regard to the employment rules and procedures of the county personnel system. Likewise, the revenue commissioner and the judge of probate of the county shall have the authority to appoint and employ their chief clerks without regard to the rules and procedures. Employees appointed pursuant to this subsection shall be nonmerit and shall serve at the pleasure of the appointing authority.

(2) Any employee appointed as a chief deputy or chief clerk pursuant to this subsection from a merit system position may revert to a merit system position at the same pay grade as the person would have been if the person had remained under the merit system including any step raises or cost of living raises. Any employee employed as a chief deputy or chief clerk serving on May 11, 2000, who was not from a merit system position may revert to a position under the merit system based on the number of years the person has served as a chief deputy or chief clerk.

(d) Any county employee with a salary that was at or below pay grade 8 on the county salary schedule on December 10, 1990, shall receive at least a one step salary increase on October 1, 1992, that shall be paid from county funds in the usual manner.