The Alexander City Council approved a plan to spend $638,000.00 for four new police cars, body and dash cams and raises for police officers. The plan was proposed by Police Chief Robert Burnett, at the November council meeting, as a way to use most of the remaining funds in the city’s American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) account. The approval by council members came at the December 19 council meeting.
Burnett decided to go with four Dodge Chargers with the V-8 engine at a cost of $34,700.00, for the vehicle. The cost of additional equipment and decals brings the total to $46,800.00. Four new police cars equals $187,200.00.
Burnett told council members any of the equipment on the current vehicles that can be transferred to the new cars will be used. The question is whether the cage mounted in the rear seat will fit in the new cars. If not, new cages will need to be purchased.
The cost of the body and dash cameras are listed in the proposal at $63,232.00. The pay raises, over a four year period, is listed at $387,568.00. The original pay raise proposal totaled $236,320.00 over four years. For cars, cameras and raises the total is $638,000.00.
Only the pay increases will come from the ARPA account. The current pay will continue to come from the police department funds and be combined with the ARPA funds every pay period.
The purpose of the four-year plan is to spend as much of the remaining portion of the ARPA funds as possible before the deadline set by the Federal Government of December 31, 2026. Any remaining funds will have to be returned.
ARPA was signed into law by President Joe Biden March 11, 2021 to provide fiscal relief funds to state and local governments aimed at mitigating the effects of the CoVid-19 pandemic. The city used ARPA funds in December 2021 to give bonuses for employees who qualified under ARPA guidelines.
The original proposal of five police vehicles plus the cost of the raises totaled $480,920.00. That left an estimated balance in the ARPA account of approximately $120,000.00. Even with reducing the number of cars purchased from five to four, then the addition of the body and dash cameras (which were not in the original proposal) and increasing the pay raises; the remainder of the ARPA funds should be eliminated by the 2026 deadline.
When Chief Burnett made his presentation at the November council meeting he said all of the police vehicles had come to the end of their three-year warranties. As it turns out two are in the last months of their warranties. At the December meeting he said one had an engine related issue that was repaired at no cost. A second is now in the shop, also with an engine related problem, and that too will be covered by the warranty.
However, the other vehicles have not been so lucky and are costing the city in repair bills. Burnett provided a repair list dated from April 20, 2021 to November 10, 2022. The total cost of repairs is $34,282.43.
This prompted Council Member Joe Pollard to ask, “Why so many miles?”
Burnett responded explaining that each vehicle runs a 12-hour shift.
Mayor Paul Mitchell expanded on that saying when police cars are sitting for any reason during a shift the engines are still running.
“It’s not the miles, it’s the hours engines run,” Burnett said.
Unfortunately, the new vehicles won’t be arriving anytime soon. Burnett said new vehicles are assembled and waiting to be sold. The only problem is they lack the computer chips to make them run.
Once the new cars arrive Burnett said the old cars will be available to the public for purchase. Unlike selling through a government clearinghouse, the vehicles will bring a higher selling price at a public sale.
Other police related business at the December 19 council meeting:
Convictions increase under new prosecutor
Council members were provided a letter from the city’s new Prosecuting Attorney R. Margaret Dobson. The letter takes a statistical look at her first five months prosecuting cases for Alexander.
“We have a higher number of convictions this year in almost every category than we had in the same time period the year before,” she said.
Dobson was hired this past summer. The prosecution comparisons are from July to November 2021, under the previous prosecutor, and July to November 2022, cases she has prosecuted.
According to the provided chart:
Misdemeanor/Person – (2021) 2 * (2022) 2;
Misdemeanor/Domestic Violence – (2021) 0 * (2022) 45;
Misdemeanor/Property – (2021) 4 * (2022) 7;
Misdemeanor/Drug – (2021) 2 * (2022) 18;
Misdemeanor/Public Order – (2021) 1 * (2022) 6;
Misdemeanor/Other – (2021) 15 * (2022) 38;
DWI 1 – (2021) 2 * (2022) 3;
Traffic Misdemeanor – (2021) 96 * (2022) 141;
Traffic Violation – (2021) 261 * (2022) 240;
Local Ordinance – (2021) 1 * (2022) 3;
Violation/Other – (2021) 3 * (2022) 2;
“I do not take credit for all of this,” Dobson said in her report. “These results are a testament to the hard work and dedication of Chief Burnett and your police department, Judge Ford, and Ms. Guess” (City Court Clerk).
Praise from the Post Office
You could say a traffic stop is like a box of chocolates, you don’t know what you’re going to get. In this case a traffic stop made on April 25, 2022 by Alexander Police Lieutenant Jessica Burnett provided evidence for the Postal Service, “[R]egarding a potential mail theft suspect whose criminal activity is tied to an ongoing investigation with a loss nearing 4 million dollars.”
That, according to a letter sent to the Alexander Police Department by Postal Inspector Robert DeShields out of the Little Rock office.
A copy of the letter was provided to council members.
According to the letter the two suspects identified during the traffic stop were arrested in November 2022 by federal law enforcement.
After the arrests Lieutenant Burnett, “[C]onfirmed she seized the items within the vehicle from the April traffic stop, and also conducted a search warrant of the driver’s cellular phone,” the letter states.
“Through Lieutenant Burnett’s efforts and investigative prowess, she provided federal law enforcement important case evidence from a search warrant in which she conducted,” DeShields says in the his letter. “The fruits of her investigation further helped uncover information to strengthen the Government’s case.”
“Once again, the United States Postal Inspection Service appreciates the diligent work efforts by the men and women of the Alexander Police Department,” Deshields states in the final paragraph. “The initiative given by the (Police) Department is reflected in their leadership.”
Request for live-in guards tabled until next meeting
A request by Police Chief Robert Burnett, and Streets and Parks/Recreation Superintendent David Durham asked council members to allow employees from both departments to live rent-free in homes located in the former Pathfinder’s complex on, what was, the Alexander Human Development Center (HDC). In exchange for the housing the employees will, on their own time, maintain the complex grounds and patrol the entire former HDC property protecting it from vandals.
Prior to Pathfinder’s leaving, the Alexander Community Center #2 building was vandalized. During that incident one of the large windows was broken and the fire extinguishers were emptied covering most of the inside of the building.
Since Pathfinder’s left the vandalism has increased. Not only did they attack the Community Center again, this time stealing the fire extinguishers and their brackets, plus breaking another window; they have now moved on to the former Pathfinder’s homes.
Durham said they have broken windows and snapped the water lines off the toilets causing flooding. Durham provided a list of damages which totaled $9,954.89.
The vandalism has stopped since two street department employees were allowed to moved in with their families. Both lived outside the city.
It was pointed out to council members that all the city’s employees live outside Alexander. Only the elected officials live in the city.
While this solution to the vandalism problem has yet to be sanction by the council, Police Chief Robert Burnett would like to extend the offer to police officers. Burnett said this plan provides a way to have city employees, from either department, able to provide emergency response staff quicker since they will already be in Alexander.
Despite trading grounds maintenance and security patrols for living quarters, Council Member Joe Pollard asked, “Why can’t they pay a hundred dollars a month to live there? Nothing is free.”
Council Member Joy Gray tried explaining to Pollard the employees would be working to live there.
“I hope this becomes a model for other cities,” Gray said.
Gray wanted to vote on the request but it wasn’t on the agenda. Mayor Mitchell explained that to add an item to the agenda it takes a two/thirds vote of the council, which is six. There were only five members present making the quorum necessary to hold a meeting. The issue was tabled until the January council meeting.
Next Meeting
Due to a holiday falling on the third Monday in January, the next meeting of the Alexander City Council is Monday, January 23 at 6:00 PM in the courtroom at city hall. The public is invited to attend.
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