Police Records To Be Probed
The Goodman City Council decided in closed session Thursday night to request a review of police department records.
Mayor Greg Richmond said the “books and records of the former regime” of the Goodman Police Department will be reviewed.
Goodman Police Chief Curt Drake resigned in October after serving for 13 years.
Richmond said after the meeting that the decision meant asking an “outside source” to look at those records. Richmond said an “outside investigator” will conduct the work.
Council members voted to go into a closed session right after 7 p.m. as the first order of business at the regular council meeting. The meeting was originally set for Tuesday evening but was canceled late Tuesday afternoon.
On Thursday night, Richmond asked all those attending to leave while the council entered into the closed session. Approximately 19 people had to leave the building while city clerk Karla McNorton locked the door. Those attending stood outside in the cold for nearly 40 minutes while city council
members held the closed session.
After the session concluded, the city hall was re-opened and Richmond announced the council’s decision.
After the meeting, Richmond said a city council member asked that the closed session be held at the beginning of the meeting, and he fulfilled that request.
Other items of discussion included trying to determine exactly where the $1.2 million in the city’s accounts originated. Despite the city’s certified public accountant recently speaking about the city’s audit, J.R. Fisher said he still had questions about the funds. He asked why they haven’t been utilized yet to help pave the roads in Goodman or see other improvements made.
McNorton said the money was not just a lump sum sitting in a bank, but a total of all accounts and departments together.
Richmond said the council can choose at any time to spend a half-million in street improvements but warned that if something catastrophic happened, the city would be tight on funds. He pointed out that the council has been frugal with its funds and city officials didn’t have to borrow money after a lot of damage was caused by a tornado in April 2017.
Fisher said he felt the council could still be good stewards of the funds, while making some improvements. He said he believed that grants exist for road improvements through a program called Build. Alderman Ron Johnson said he would utilize some time over Christmas break to explore possible grants through that program.
In other business, Councilmember Beth Hallmark said the city spent more than $16,000 last year in paid time off for city employees. Any time accrued after 40 hours is considered overtime and employees are paid time and a half, she said. City council members agreed that a time clock should be utilized to better monitor time. Hallmark said that overtime is ultimately approved by the mayor. Councilmember Ed Tuomala said if comp time is reduced, those monies could help pay for an additional part-time police officer.
Council members also discussed possibly moving the Goodman Municipal Court to the Pineville court as a cost-saving measure, as well as considering deleting the tax collector’s position to save money.