Council approves full-time SRO in Gentry’s schools

Tuesday, October 15, 2013

GENTRY - Council members approved resolutions to allow for a full-time school resource officer and to approve the city’s millage rates for 2013 and adopted ordinances dealing with rental fees for ball fields and pavilions in the city parks and establishing the existing practice of allowing the court clerk to collect fi nes for the city.

Passed on its second and third reading at the Oct. 7 meeting was an ordinance which sets the fees for reserving pavilions in the city park at $30 per day or $15 per half day and the fee to reserve the ball diamond in the main park (across from the fi re station) at $30 per day. The fee schedulewill officially take effect after publication of the ordinance.

Also passed by the council, on three readings with a single vote, was an ordinance which designates the district court clerk as responsible for the collection of fines assessed by the court for the city of Gentry.

The council unanimously approved a resolution authorizing the mayor to execute a memorandum of understanding between the city and the Gentry School District for the Gentry Police Department to provide full-time lawenforcement coverage for the schools during student days at the schools and to provide coverage at sporting events and other school activities at which the number of specta-tors is anticipated to be more than 30.

According to the memorandum, the school district will reimburse the city for the full annual salary and benefits of a full-time SRO officer in exchange for the full-time service during class days and during after-school events. Since one full-time offi cer would not have suffi cient work hours to cover the schools all day and then cover after-school events, the police department anticipates using part-time officers to help cover afterschool activities. The cost of paying the part-time officers to cover the evening and sometimes weekend events would be offset by the police department’s being able to use the services of the SRO offi cer for other duties when school is not in session.

The arrangement is in immediate effect and is retro-active to the fi rst day of school, according to Gentry School’s superintendent, Randy Barrett.

“The SRO has been here,” Barrett said, “and officers have been at games, etc.”

Both the mayor and council members called the arrangement a “winwin” situation for both the city and the school district.

The council approved a resolution setting the 2013 millage rate (to be collected in 2014) at 6 mills - 5 mills for the city’s general fund, 0.3 mills for the fireman’s pension and 0.7 mills for voluntary park maintenance. The millage rate is unchanged from the current rate, but cities are required to approve the millage rate resolution each year.

News, Pages 1 on 10/16/2013