Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Marshall Requests Closed Meeting At Council

Gurdon City Marshal David Childres requested a closed hearing concerning his department during Monday night's city council meeting.

However, the items the council had on the agenda to discuss had nothing to do with personnel matters. The agenda issues were the Gurdon Police Department's budget and a checking account established from money from a drug arrest.

The GPD was on the agenda twice, once under the heading of reports of boards and commissions (as it is each month) and again under old business.

When initially addressed, Childres said he's like to know when the newest patrol car was going to be repaired.

Currently, the air conditioning compressor is blown and the vehicle has another undetermined problem.

Childres also mentioned the lightning strike at the City Hall which knocked out the GPD's radio and affected its phones.

Gurdon Mayor Rick Smith said the lightning knocked out the city's radio repeater, but the department was never out of radio contact. It switched over to a county frequency, handled by the sheriff's office.

The lightning strike also damaged four other telephones and a printer, along with affecting two computers in the water department.

However, Smith said, an insurance adjuster will be in town to assess the damage. Gurdon has a $1,000 deductible on its policy.

Childres, though, said the GPD currently has one working vehicle, as an older Chevrolet "vapor locks" at speeds above 20 miles per hour.

From here, the council moved forward to the Gurdon Fire Department, with Fire Chief Jake McBride saying the city needs to adopt an updated burning ordinance.

There is a burning ordinance in effect, but it only allows for burning to be done in an incinerator. McBride urged the council to pass a more modernized version which would allow for some burning inside the city limits and so he could get his position on the issue settled.

The council, however, tabled the measure for another month on a motion by David Williams so the council members would have a better chance to study the matter.

This is the third time a burning ordinance had been brought before Gurdon's governing body.

Jim Caldwell, supervisor for the Gurdon Street Department, asked for a new equipment operator as he had one resign.

He said several streets are being worked on in the Jocelyn area which can't be finished without an equipment operator.

Mary Burns, representing the Gurdon Airport Commission, said the dirt work for the first phase of airport improvements is almost completed, but a track hoe will have to be rented to finish the job. Weather permitting, she said, the project could be done in a month.

In addition, she said the commission is looking at sponsoring an ultralight and homebuilt aircraft show at Lowe Field in October.

Burns said it is hoped the air show could be held in conjunction with the annual Forest Festival, but this will be up to the Forest Festival committee.

She told the council money raised from the air show would go toward a matching grant for building a new hanger and waiting area for pilots at Lowe Field.

If this can be done, she said, it may be possible to get a person to live on-site to operate the airport.

At this point, the GPD again was on the agenda and Childres requested an executive session.

Williams made the motion for one, received a second, but before a vote could be taken, Phil Robkin, with KIX radio, objected.

He said Childres is an elected official and the items to be discussed did not relate to personnel matters.

City attorney Eric Hughes left the room to research the issue on his laptop computer.

In the meantime, other items on the agenda were discussed, including the fact no bids were received on a 1987 Ford police car.

It has been said this vehicle is better than the Chevrolet currently being used by the GPD.

The council discussed selling the car and placing the money in the GPD maintenance and repair budget.

However, the governing body decided to keep the car for now and see what happens with the other vehicles.

Smith said the city has received an energy grant for $29,604 for air conditioning and energy-related upgrades.

The job will be let for bid soon, and will include replacing all four air conditioner units, heating units in the attic, freon and gas lines. The estimated cost of this project is about $19,000, Smith said.

The other $10,000 will be used to seal bays in the GFD. Any money left over will be used to construct an airlock entry in the back of City Hall for the GFD.

Hughes returned with his findings and told the council Arkansas code would not allow an executive session for the issues to be addressed on the agenda.

Smith said at the June meeting the GPD's budget was discussed, with the maintenance and repair section at 83 percent of projections and gas and oil at 72 percent of projection.

Childres spoke up saying he would have been at the June meeting had he thought the council had a problem with how he runs the GPD.

At the time, he said, the department was running three cars on the weekend and two each night during the week.

He also said when working on the budget last fall, he didn't consider the extra fuel which would be required in the hotter summer months.

Childres said his officers don't intentionally tear the vehicles up, but they do break down. "We can't help it," he said.

In addition, he said seven people had been arrested for burglary in the last two weeks, with five burglaries committed.

He said there is a problem with people "hanging around" on the streets all night in certain areas and a number of complaints about fights.

Smith said no one was questioning his running three cars, but asking if the city could afford to do this and be within its budget, which is prepared and presented by the department manager.

Again Childres said he wasn't thinking of running three cars when the budget was made late last fall.

At this time, he continued, the department doesn't go to other cities and pick up prisoners the GPD has placed in the Arkansas Crime Information Center (ACIC) computers and the National Crime Information Center (NCIC) system.

He said they tell the arresting department to give the people a court date and let them go. "We may need to quit putting them (wanted people) in the computer," he said.

Additionally, he said the GPD cars are never turned off, and have as many idling miles as road miles. Childres said if the cars were turned off the batteries would run down because of the radios.

He said if anyone has questions for him they can catch him at the GPD. However, when asked when he was there, Childres failed to give a specific time and said the GPD "watches what it pu