FAIRHOPE, Ala. — Since January, Fairhope has paid two men for one police chief job.

On Jan. 22, Interim Police Chief Terry Sanders was hired at the same salary that then-Chief Mike Comalander received of: $83,336 per year.

Although Comalander stepped down to captain at that time, his salary never changed, according to Councilman Lonnie Mixon.

“Yes, that’s my understanding,” Mixon said Thursday. “I’ve put the issue on the Monday council agenda so we can get this taken care of once and for all.”

Mixon said inquiries about Comalander’s pay rate by council members to city officials and staff since January had not resulted in any adjustment to his salary.

The item on Monday’s council agenda states it is for the “establishment of pay scale for rank of captain on the Fairhope Police Department.”

Until Comalander was given that rank, the department had only one captain.

Capt. Steven Griffis has been employed with the city since 1984 and earns $73,400 annually as a captain in the department, according to city records.

Griffis applied for the permanent chief position currently undergoing a search, but did not make the top 25 list, according to city records. Sanders is shown at the No. 11 spot on the list.

Comalander has been employed with the city since 1993, according to city records, and served as police chief since 2006, when he was appointed to fill the remaining term of Chief Chris Browning, who took a job with the Alabama Attorney General. Browning resigned from that job this year after an arrest on a drunken driving charge.

Prior to his change in rank, Comalander went on medical leave as of Jan. 20, according to city staff. A departmental news release issued by him shortly thereafter, responded to “rumors” that he is addicted to prescription pain pills.

He said he has long suffered from back pain and been under a doctor’s care, but that he has never taken any medication that wasn’t prescribed, according to the release.

Comalander’s current salary could not be confirmed with the city’s human resources or payroll departments by press time.