Cave City Police Chief Paul Reynolds answers budgetary questions and offers input on the contract for Caverna’s school resource officer.
By GAGE WILSON
Glasgow News 1
In an example on how faces may change, yet the work remains the same, the Cave City City Council’s Monday meeting addressed ongoing long-term projects such as that of the security officer for Caverna Independent Schools, as well as a budding partnership with HdL Companies, each subject broached with a new voice on the council.
The council delved into the night’s agenda with the weight of discussion primarily focused on that of a new contract between the city and Caverna School District, which would outline the pay for the reserved officer. As previously reported, the estimated cost would climb by around $10,000. Council members were provided with two templates for the contract, one continuing to contract the officer to the school for $50,000 annually, and the other raising that cost to $60,000.
Discussion into the matter was spearheaded by councilman Brandon Wright, who expressed misgivings about the contract, as Horse Cave does not contribute to these costs. Caverna schools is the consolidated former independent school districts for Horse Cave and Cave City. The districts were consolidated in 1950.
Newly elected councilman Ronald Coffey sought the expertise of Police Chief Paul Reynolds. “I want to hear what he has to say about this, after all he is the one dealing with it.”
“The biggest thing for us is the safety of the kids,” Reynolds said. “Firstly, we are not gaining anything financially through this, in fact we’re losing financially. But, it works out because the kids have somebody there.”
As Reynolds explained the cost of the resource officer to the board, the council also recognized members of Caverna’s Board of Education who were present for the discussion. School district Superintendent Amanda Abell said that the school would ideally like to have two officers for its district. “We really need an officer for each campus,” she said. “Several years ago when the cost went up, it was hard for us to do at that time going from $30,000 to $50,000.”
Board member Wayne Hatcher was the next to be recognized by the council. “We listened to comparisons from other districts, like Glasgow and Barren County,” he said, “and their resource officers were way less than what we’re paying here, so that bothers us somewhat.”
Responding to this comment Wright rebutted that the cost difference could be explained by the difference in size between the law enforcement departments. “We have to have this guy [the SRO] year-round. Larger departments like Glasgow, can filter people in and out,” he said.
After a more than half-hour discussion, the council passed a contract that the city would offer its officer to the district for $55,000 annually. The Caverna board of education must still approve the contract.
The council then turned its attention to a new partnership with Hdl Companies, an organization utilized by other municipalities to locate and recover lost revenue from business license fees. “Since our last meeting I have spoken with several different cities about this,” Mayor Hatcher said. “I know Glasgow has been involved with them for several years now and there have been a lot of positives coming out of it.”
The mayor went on to name other officials who gave their endorsements to HdL, with many sharing the same sentiment echoed by the mayor, that “100-percent of zero is still zero,” referring to the acquisition of uncollected fees.
While a majority of the council was in favor of the partnership, Wright stood out as its only opposition saying that he “disagreed on principle.”
Ultimately the council voted to append with the company.
The council also made a decision on how to address the vacancy of the seat intended for elected council member Eddie Spradlin. The vacancy comes as Spradlin has not been sworn in within the required deadline. The onus of selecting a replacement now falls to current council members, who have 30 days to fill the seat. Due to the time constraints, members voted to hold a special-called meeting on Jan. 23 where a new council person will be introduced.
The council’s next regular meeting was also moved to Feb. 17.
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