Several personnel changes are on the horizon with regard to city employees.
The aldermen for the city of Indianola met on Monday, and after the executive session, the city lawmakers voted to accept the resignation of police dispatcher Delores Ward and remove officer Johnny Delaney from probationary status with a salary upgrade to $13.72 per hour.
In the same meeting, the board also approved a 36-hours suspension without pay for officer Marvin Myrick.
In addition, they voted to rehire Kenyon Butler to the parks and recreation department as a summer-grant certified teacher at $15 per hour. Also, upon the recommendation of newly selected chief Orlando Battle, three certified firefighters, who were former city employees, were rehired.
They included Demetrius Williams who had a total of 13 years with the Indianola department. He was hired as a captain at $10.90 per hour, Sandy Evans, who had five years, was hired as a lieutenant at $9.70 per hour and Cortez Hillie, who had three and a half years, was rehired at the Sergeant's grade at $8.88 per hour.
In other business,
The aldermen voted 4 to 1, with Alderman Darrell Simpson voting no, to allow advanced payments for mileage and meals for three court clerks to travel to a summer conference in June. Simpson question the need for each clerk to go in a separate vehicle since they were all going to the same place, at the same time, for the same reason. He inquired if it was possible to use a city vehicle because it would cost around $900 in mileage expenses for the three of them to go in three separate vehicles.
Alderman Sam Brock too questioned the decision, citing similar protestations.
Mayor Steve Rosenthal said that the policy states that if a city vehicle is available and offered but refused, the employee would then only be entitled to a 50 percent reimbursement, which would reduce the amount. However, no city vehicle was offered.
The aldermen also approved travel for two Indianola Historic Preservation Commission members to attend a 2018 boot camp, two parks and recreation employees to attend a required grant conference in Wichita, Kansas, the fire chief and assistant to attend the chief's conference in Gulfport, the police chief and assistant to attend a training in Biloxi plus three officers to attend a field training course in Tupelo.
They also heard and received departmental reports from the Municipal Court Clerk Teresa Nolden who reported $26,144 in collections and Chief Edrick Hall who reported 1,282 calls, 73 arrests, 167 tickets and 21 felony arrests for the month of March. Hall also informed the city’s decision makers that he was in need of four full-time officers and one dispatcher.
Brock asked Hall what could be done to deter those playing loud music and blocking traffic to talk on the south side of the railroad tracks. They discussed the possibility of additional patrols or individual citizens approaching the wrongdoers, which Hall does not recommend.
However, Attorney Gary Austin alluded to another way in which the people could aid the situation. “Any citizen who sees a crime being committed has the authority to come before the court clerk to make an affidavit charging that person with that crime,” he said.
Operating off of a question raised by Simpson, the city officials decided to table the purchase of three manual switches and a plug-in connector mandated by the Department of Environmental Quality until a comparison could be made on the equipment being purchased.
City officials agreed to change the May 28 regular meeting to May 29 because of the Memorial Day holiday.
The aldermen approved a street closure request from Temple of Deliverance church for April 29.
They also agreed to engage the city engineer and public works director to research the cost of installing guardrails along a section of B.B. King Road where the city recently installed a 36-inch culvert.
The lawmakers agreed to advertise the vacancy on the Indianola Historic Preservation Commission. Alderman Ruben Woods said he would like to ensure that the chosen person was someone who actually lived in the historic district. He feels that the decisions concerning the district should be made by a board comprised of a majority of people who actually live in the district.
