By MELINDA J. OVERSTREET
for Glasgow News 1
Along with renaming Glasgow’s city hall, the Glasgow Common Council on Monday also approved first reading of a rezoning ordinance; made numerous appointments to committees, boards, commissions, etc.; heard brief updates from three department heads; and watched a police officer take the oath of office for his promotion to sergeant.
Mayor Henry Royse swore in and congratulated Sgt. Jeffery Childress near the top of the meeting, after Glasgow Police Department Chief Guy Howie introduced him, noting, among other things, that he had earned a bachelor’s degree from Western Kentucky University in sociology and criminology. He started with GPD in 2018 and then returned there after having left for some time with Cave City’s police department, Howie said.
Shifting gears, Royse said, “I want to do a better job this year of letting everybody know what the people who work for the city of Glasgow are getting done on a regular basis.”
He recalled Howie to the podium. The police chief advised that upgrades to the police department that started last spring have now been completed with some new furniture for the detective area. Changes have also included a mural on a wall at the front of the property, creating a parking area closer to the front door, interior painting and new flooring.
“It’s been a work in progress but we got it done,” Howie said.
Noting that the council had approved two new officer positions a few months back, he said he has two individuals in the final stages of their background checks, and he expects them to come on board in the next few weeks, rounding out all the sworn-officer positions. He said the office position left vacant by Tonya Barrick’s retirement after 27 years with the city has also been filled, with that person having started that day.
“Additionally, all the vehicles that were in this current budget are in and have been issued out, and we have four vehicles that will be traded back in,” Howie said.
All of the new Flock cameras approved in this budget have also been installed, and one has already aided in locating a stolen vehicle from Tennessee.
Glasgow Fire Department Chief Lucas Tinsley said their new air packs, purchased with a FEMA grant, had arrived and are on trucks and have been in use with a couple of house fires, with good feedback so far.
“We have just completed testing for three open positions at the fire department. We should be filling those positions toward the end of the month, so we’re excited about that,” he said.
Three members of the department have recently returned from Wisconsin, where they had gone for a prebuild conference for the new tower truck that’s been ordered, he added.
“They were at the factory, going through all the specs, making sure that what they’re going to be building is what best fits Glasgow, and we’ll be looking for a return trip around August for a final inspection on that piece of equipment,” Tinsley said.
Beverly Harbison, director of the Glasgow-based Barren-Metcalfe Emergency Communications Center, which receives all 911 calls from both counties, said she and the assistant director, April Dunbar, met with the 911 director in Edmonton and had lunch, and that went well.
“It’s all sounding great for us,” she said.
Harbison said one of her former employees had approached her about coming back and will be starting work part time as soon as they can get all the paperwork done. She said that was good because this person is already trained and certified. She had three open positions as of Monday.
They are planning some new furniture and a new setup in the dispatch room, which takes considerable coordination because all the call stations still have to be up and running while that’s happening.
“We did get a grant this year. We got a new recording system that April Dunbar worked on really well. We got that completed, about $30,000, so that’s going really well for us,” Harbison said.
The mayor said they couldn’t talk about departmental news without mentioning that the public works and the parks and recreation crews competed against each other recently in the Hometown Showdown Lip Sync Battle, which was a fundraiser for the T.J. Community Mission Foundation that raised more than $53,000. The Department of Public Works employees won that battle. Teams from other organizations around town participated as well.
Action/informational items
In addition to the resolution that changes Glasgow City Hall to the Luska J. Twyman Municipal Building, with all nine council members present, they also unanimously approved first reading of an ordinance rezoning approximately 2.59 acres at 110 Physicians Blvd. from Office and Professional (OP) to Highway Service Business (B-3) and municipal orders making the following appointments:
– Councilmen James Neal and Freddie Norris to the city’s annexation committee;
– Councilman Terry Bunnell to the Barren County Economic Authority;
– Council members Elizabeth Shoemaker and Marna Kirkpatrick to the board of directors for the Community Relief Fund of Glasgow-Barren County;
– Councilwoman Chasity Lowery to the Glasgow Electric Plant Board;
– Council members Bunnell, Lowery, Norris and Neal to the council’s finance committee;
– Bunnell to the Glasgow Economic Development Loan Fund Board of Directors;
– Lowery to the Glasgow-Barren County Animal Control Board;
– Kirkpatrick to the Glasgow-Barren County Salvation Army Service Unit Committee;
– Council members Joe Trigg, Randy Wilkinson, Kirkpatrick and Wilkinson to the council’s infrastructure committee;
– Lowery and Shoemaker to the Plaza Theatre Advisory Board;
– Council members Tommy Burris, Bunnell, Lowery and Norris to the council’s parks and recreation committee;
– Burris, Neal, Norris and Shoemaker to the council’s public safety committee;
– Kirkpatrick to the Glasgow Renaissance Steering Committee;
– Bunnell, Kirkpatrick, Neal and Trigg to the council’s strategic planning committee;
– Trigg and Norris to the Veterans Wall of Honor Standing Committee;
– Kirkpatrick to the Glasgow Water and Sewer Commission;
– Wilkinson to the 911 Governing Board; and
– Neal to the Entertain Glasgow Committee.
All of the council-member appointments are for the length of their term in office, which is two years.
Additionally, community members Holly Alexander, Jessica Wells, Cody Meek and Jerry Ralston were all reappointed to serve one-year terms on the Plaza Theatre Advisory Board.
The mayor also had provided notice to the council members of a change in the police department’s standard operating procedure relating to response to resistance.
Howie explained that they are shifting away from the use of pepper spray to an ocular irritant that doesn’t burn but rather essentially forces an involuntary response in which the suspect has to close their eyes.
The Luska J. Twyman Municipal Building will be closed Monday in observance of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, and no city services EXCEPT transit will be operating that day.
The next regular council meeting is at 6 p.m. Jan. 27 in Council Chambers on Floor 2 of the Twyman building, 126 E. Public Square, Glasgow.
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