By MELINDA J. OVERSTREET
for Glasgow News 1
In a council chambers with new carpeting and individual padded chairs replacing the rows of attached wooden fold-up seats, Glasgow’s new fire chief was ceremoniously sworn into office during Monday’s regular meeting of the Glasgow Common Council.
Those proceedings were followed by a request from the police chief for two additional sworn-officer positions, second reading of a rezoning ordinance and a resolution declaring several pieces of computer equipment and such as surplus.
Lucas Tinsley, who’s been employed by the fire department for 12 years, had been serving in the role of battalion chief when then-Chief William Rock II announced he was retiring at the end of September. The council unanimously approved a municipal order at its Sept. 23 regular meeting appointing Tinsley to the position, as Rock and Tinsley watched from the audience.
Then, on Oct. 1, Tinsley’s first actual day in the new role, the city released a statement about his appointment, providing additional information about his background.
Several members of Tinsley’s family were on hand Monday as Mayor Henry Royse administered the oath of office to the new chief. Tinsley’s wife and three children stood near him as that part of the ceremony took place. His children Josie and Levi helped attach the first pin; his grandmother, Wanda Pearson, added the next before giving him a hug; and his son Clay affixed his badge.
Glasgow Police Chief Guy Howie had provided information two hours prior to the Glasgow Common Council Public Safety Committee, asking for its members’ support of his request to increase the number of officer slots from 35 to 37. A unanimous vote there supplied that support, and Councilman Freddie Norris, who chairs that committee, later relayed the result of that vote to the full council and made the motion to approve the two positions.
Howie said the department is currently authorized for 35 police officers. In the calendar year 2019, the department had 25,035 calls for service and it had 37 officers at the time, he said. In 2023, the call volume rose to 34,146. Of the 35 positions he has now, one is vacant, one officer is on a military deployment, one is at the police training academy, one is again assigned to the Barren River Drug Task Force and one is on a family medical leave, and when one of the remaining officers takes vacation, that adds even more to the load on the others. He said overtime pay totaled more than $12,000 in the prior two-week pay period, because a certain minimum level of staffing is required. And then when officers work a lot of overtime, they get tired, and their job requires focus and attention to detail.
Regarding the DTF, he said the department had pulled its detective from the multiagency organization when it was even more short-handed, and it’s been his intention to send that person back once the department got more fully staffed, but he feels the need is too great right now to wait, adding that problems with fentanyl and related issues have risen and overdoses are “through the roof.”
He said mental health calls can end up taking several hours, including evaluations at the hospital and possibly transportation to a state mental health facility in Hopkinsville, and that leaves fewer officers to handle the other calls.
“I don’t think the city is getting the most bank for their buck when they’re running call to call to call,” Howie told the committee, and that’s what happens if calls begin to stack up because no one’s available.
For a full year, he said, it would cost $168,000 for the two positions, for their salaries, benefits and equipment, but the budget wouldn’t have to be amended for that amount because it’s already the fourth month into the current fiscal year, and it can take five to six months to get someone through the training because the academy is backed up. He said he didn’t want to wait until the next budget cycle to ask, though, and be that much further behind with the situation.
Councilman James “Happy” Neal asked in the committee meeting whether this would also mean more vehicles would be necessary, but Howie said he’s good on vehicles at this time and would have enough for them.
The police chief provided essentially the same information was asked a few additional questions at the full council meeting. He said he wouldn’t normally make a request like this at this point in the fiscal year but he truly felt it was a necessity for public safety.
Howie said he intends to do a full manpower study, as well, to discern what the department’s staffing should truly be.
He said he’s discussed the proposal with the city treasurer and “it’s very doable in this year’s budget.”
Ultimately, the full council voted unanimously to allow the department the two positions, and a budget amendment ordinance is anticipated at the next meeting.
Other business
The rezoning ordinance that was unanimously approved – after some discussion on anticipated traffic volume, an issue raised by Councilman Joe Trigg – on second reading changes approximately 6.93 acres at 716 Grandview Ave. a light industrial to a highway service business district designation.
The municipal order, also unanimously approved, declared as surplus items such as Tasers and holsters and cartridges for them, bodycams and chargers for them, “old and outdated” Glock gun holsters, and a variety of computer and related equipment as well as cameras. Many of the items have notes that the working condition is unknown.
The mayor had provided the council members with notification of his intent to appoint Sue Furlong to the Glasgow/Barren County Animal Control Board to fill the unexpired term of Julie Adkins and reappoint Jerry Botts to the Glasgow Water and Sewer Commission.
The next regular meeting of the council is at 6 p.m. Oct. 28 in Council Chambers on Floor 2 of Glasgow City Hall, 126 E. Public Square.
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