Town of Wister hires new chief of police

The town of Wister Board of Trustees had its monthly meeting Monday night with a full quorum.

One of the top items taken care of by the board was hiring James Taylor as Wister Police Department Chief pending a medical exam completion with a future hire date of Jan. 31. Taylor will receive a $1,000 bonus with a monthly salary of $3,466.67. Taylor received a 4-1 vote of acceptance with board member Carla Pride being the only no vote. Taylor is currently a police officer in Guymon.

There was a discussion and a vote of 4-1 to demote current Wister Police Chief Dennis Sugg to regular patrol officer starting the first day of Taylor’s employment with a new salary of $3,000. a month. The only no vote again belonged to Pride.

The first item discussed in the meeting was approval of repairs to be made to the gazebo in Wister Pride Park which all board members agreed on needing repaired.

Next on the agenda was the approval of Rhonda Heflin and Maritza Ford to the Wister Housing Authority Board. Heflin received an approval vote while Ford’s acceptance was tabled until the next meeting due to more information requested by the board in order for approval.

The board voted unanimously to approve the purchase of a conventional cutter from R.A.W. Enterprises at a cost of $7,500 for the Wister Fire Department. The cutter will be able to extract victims trapped in the wreckage quicker and cut through much tougher material more effectively than the current cutter. The current cutter will be kept and used as a backup.