HIGHFILL -- The police department in Highfill now has its own full-time chief, following the resignation of part-time interim chief Keith Smith.
Gregory "Blake" Webb is now Highfill's police chief. Webb assumed the full-time duties following the resignation of Smith earlier this month. Smith was hired by the city to get things in order, hire and train a person to assume the duties of chief and help in the hiring of additional quality officers.
Smith announced his upcoming resignation at the July meeting, saying: "I've been here since Oct. 22. That will be 10 months in August and it's time for me to step aside and let Highfill have its own chief."
Smith said he thought Webb was ready to assume the duties of full-time chief for Highfill. And though Smith had announced Aug. 18 as his last day, he turned over duties to Webb 10 days earlier, on Aug. 8.
The department now has three full-time officers and three part-time officers. Kelby Jenison was promoted to the sergeant position and Logan Roddy was hired as a full-time patrol officer.
Roddy was previously employed by the Siloam Springs Police Department, and the city of Highfill will be required under statute to reimburse the city of Siloam Springs for 20 percent of Roddy's academy training costs since he has only been out of the police academy for 15 months. Webb estimated the reimbursement to be between $1,400 and $1,500 but said that cost is considerably less than the cost to the city to send an officer to the academy -- approximately $12,000.
Because of Roddy's experience and training, Webb is recommending his starting salary be $31,000 per year, with a $1,000 per year raise following two consecutive years of service. Roddy has two years of experience with the Siloam Springs department and will also be on the Highfill Fire Department. He began working for Highfill on Aug. 10.
Webb is recommending that Jenison be started at $36,000 per year, with a $1,000 raise for three consecutive years of service.
Webb's salary had not been set as of the Aug. 12 council meeting, but the budgeted range was between $39,000 and $41,000 per year.
Webb announced to the council on Aug. 12 that the department had won a lidar unit (similar to radar except that it uses a laser beam to measure a vehicle's speed) through the Criminal Justice Institute for its seat belt and DWI enforcement effort.
In other business, the council adopted an ordinance rezoning a parcel of land for the Highfill United Methodist Church from residential to commercial use and passed a resolution authorizing the transfer of excess sales tax revenue from the water improvement fund to the general fund for the city.
General News on 08/20/2014