Published: September 11, 2008 04:00 pm         

Council reverses plan on student resource officer, agrees to fund program

The Crossville City Council weighed in on the issue of funding for Cumberland County schools and reversed its previous decision to require that the Board of Education (BOE) pay half the cost of school resource officers (SRO) for the current school year.

The agenda item to discuss the possibility of funding the entire SRO program was suggested by Councilman Jesse Kerley. Kerley made the motion to amend the most recent contract between the city and the BOE that the city would fund the entire city SRO program this year. Councilman Boyd Wyatt seconded the motion.

Previously the city council had discussed phasing out the expense of the SRO program and turning it over to the BOE since the officers are really part of the school staff. The city's intention was to fund half of the program this year and let the BOE fund all costs of the program next year. Recent funding difficulties for the schools with the county commission changed that plan.

While discussing the motion, Councilman Earl Dean said it was a good idea but he felt it needs to be held to one year.

Councilman Carl Duer, a retired physician, said he would also emphasize that the change was for one year only. Duer added, "I'm concerned about the school nurse program and I'd like to encourage the BOE to maintain the school nurse program." Duer asked that that recommendation be made part of the motion and Councilman Kerley agreed.

City Manager Ted Meadows told the council he had spoken with Director of Schools Aarona VanWinkle earlier in the day. He said VanWinkle told him that the BOE supports the SRO program but they are at the mercy of county funding. Meadows said that VanWinkle said the BOE has no control over the amount of funding.

"We don't need to put out kids in this position," stressed Mayor Pro-Tem Boyd Wyatt. "We need to make sure our kids are safe in school."

Wyatt continued, "I hope the county commission and the Board of Education would get together and realize they need to take care of these matters and fund schools as they need to be funded."

The motion was approved will all four council members present voting in favor. Crossville Mayor J. H. Graham is still recuperating from surgery.

The Crossville Police Department continues to win awards from the annual Governor's Highway Safety competition. In the most recent competition, they won the championship trophy on highway safety and the department came in second place in the division for police departments their size between 26 and 50 officers.

Police Chief David Beaty told the council that in addition, Lt. Fred Sherrill received an individual award. Lt. Sherrill also serves as the Upper Cumberland coordinator for Governor's Highway Safety contest. Chief Beaty also thanked other members of the team that worked on the contest entry including Wendy Davis with the police department and Lee Lawson with the city.

In addition to the recognition and awards, the police department won around $10,000 worth of equipment including an in car video camera and an in-car radar unit. Chief Beaty said that in October the city would find out about a grant that could bring the city up to $85,000 to benefit community safety.

The council approved final reading of the annexation of 2.8 acres into the city limits. The property is located on spruce loop and the annexation was requested by the owner, Take It Easy, LLC. Part of the parcel was already inside the city limits and because the property is up for development, the remaining portion of the parcel was annexed. The action was taken as part of the consent agenda. No comments were made about the annexation during the public hearing and a plan of services was also approved under the consent agenda.