Marshal plan shot down

SPRINGTOWN - Plans to appoint or elect a volunteer town marshal in Springtown were shot down when city attorney Carla Wasson shared the possible downside of the plans at the town’s June 14 council meeting.

The town had hoped having a volunteer city marshal would help the town enforce its ordinances and promptly deal with law-enforcement matters in the small town, but liability issues related to having a town marshal were more than the town council was willing to take on.

According to the town’s draft minutes, Wasson spoke to an attorney with the Arkansas Municipal League and obtained information on problems which could come with the position of a town marshal, most significantly, liability for the marshal’s actions.

Otherwise, the town could have created the position by ordinance and then placed a person in office by election, she said.

A motion was made by Lisa Lawrence, with a second by Amanda Richardson, to discontinue plans to put in place a town marshal. The motion passed by unanimous vote.

In other business, it wasreported that the town was still waiting for money to be released for the construction of a new Aubrey Long Road bridge, installing power to the yard shed was on hold until a decision could be made on how to activate storm sirens, water and electricity to the city park was also placed on hold to see if money for the project would be available, and landscaping work around the town was ongoing.