Council debates benefits and costs of take-home police cars

Wednesday, June 20, 2012

— City councilwoman Nan McClain, at the June 11 meeting, proposed setting a mileage limit to the distance Decatur Police Officers may drive their patrol cars home.

McClain said she was concerned that, while the city was trying to be conservative financially, they were spending money on fuel, maintenance and repairs for officers to drive to and from home.

Police Chief Terry Luker said that setting a mileage limit would only affect one of the department’s five full-time officers - Larry Fiedorovich, who lives in Springdale. The other four officers live within 10 miles or less of the city limits, he said. Luker also said he was concerned that Fiedorovich would retire if his take-home car was taken away.

McClain claimed that during a recent trip she clocked the mileage between Decatur and Springdale and found it was 40 miles one way between Decatur and “just barely into” Springdale.

“To me this constitutes he’s getting another benefit the other officers aren’t getting,” McClain said.

Street and parks department manager Mike Barnett countered that it is 23 miles from Decatur to Fiedorovich’s house.

According to mapquest.com driving directions, it is 31.26 miles from the Decatur city center to the Springdale city center.

Mayor Charles Linam said that, while he has objected in the past to officers who live far from Decatur having take-home cars, when he took office he agreed with Luker that officers should continue to have cars because that was the condition under which they were hired. But Linam pointed out that the retroactive upgrade the officers received in their retirement last fall was a change to the conditions under which officers were hired and could open other conditions to change.

“Why can’t he drive his personal car back and forth to work just like I do?” asked councilwoman Kim Goble.

Fiedorovich, who retired from the Springdale Police Department as an investigator, is one of his most experienced officers, Luker said.

“Larry is one of my best investigators. He knows what he’s doing and he can put a case together like nobody else. If someone burglarizes your house, he’s the one that will make sure they go away for a long, long time,” he told the council.

City attorney Tom Smith reminded the council that there was a time when Decatur had a hard time hiring qualified officers and added the take-home car as an added benefit to attract officers.

Councilman David Sutton recommended making a take-home car policy “going forward” and not changing it for officers that have already been hired.

Councilman James Jessen suggested tabling the issue until the two absent councilwomen, Sandy Duncan and Gina Holt, were present to help make a decision. No action was taken.

Library Public Hearing

After a brief public hearing, which was unattended by the public, council members voted to buy an internet filterfor the public computers in the Iva Jane Peek Library.

The filter will cost $18 per year for each of the library’s 10 computers - or a total of $180 - and will help make the library eligible for discounts through the e-rate system.

“I think we should do it for the protection of the kids who use it. People could abuse it (internet usage),” said councilman David Sutton.

Overtime

Linam asked the council to consider changing employee overtime pay policies.

Currently, employees are paid 1.5 times their hourly wages if they work more than 40 hours a week. However, if an employee were to take a sick day or holiday during the week, and then were called in to work additional hours on a weekend they would just receive their regular hourly pay, Linam explained.

Linam said he felt it was fair to pay employees for all hours over 40 in a week, whether they were worked hours or sick, vacation or holiday hours. He also said that Centerton and Gravette have policies similar to the one he was proposing.

Linam suggested the council either pay employees overtime for anything over 8 hours a day or allow holiday, sick and vacation time to count towards their 40 hours a week.

“That would be great, but I’ve never seen it,” Goble commented.

Sutton asked to see a breakdown of how much the new policy would cost the city.

“I think you guys are worth it, but we’re cutting it close already,” Sutton said.

City Inspector

The city is working on a contract to have county inspectors do all inspections since terminating building inspector Ray Adams, Linam told the council.

Adams has been offeredthe chance to appeal the decision to the council, he said.

Linam said county building inspectors Jeff Brown and Lynn Tracy are currently doing all the Decatur inspections at no charge until a contract can be drawn up. They are also looking to contract their services to other municipalities, he said.

“I think it’s gong to be a very, very good situation. The two inspectors are very nice personable men that will not let anyone get by with anything,” Linam said.

Dog Pound Bids

Council members voted to accept a low bid of $10,000 from Ball Hill Masonry of Gentry to build block walls to divide rooms in the new dog pound building.

Other companies also bid on the project, with the highest bid coming in at $21,000.

Council members considered accepting the second to lowest bid for $11,000 from Phillip Merworth Masonry because Merworth is from Decatur and has done work for the city in the past.

Animal control officer Mike Barnett said that Ball Hill Masonry has visited the location several times and helped draw out the plans, and city administrative assistant Kim Wilkins pointed out that it is very rare for the council not to accept the lowest bid.

The dog pound project has been divided up over the course of several years to help defray the cost. Last year a metal building was erected and the previous year the concrete slab was poured. Next year the electrical wiring and chain link will be added to complete the new pound.

City Attorney

City Attorney Tom Smith announced that he will no longer be able to serve the city after January.

Smith recently won the election for judgeship in the Benton County Circuit Court Division III.

News, Pages 11 on 06/20/2012