FRIARS POINT — What started out as a discussion about the Friars Point police department turned into a discussion about all different departments during the Tuesday, Dec. 4 city council meeting.
Mayor James Washington was prepared to discuss those issues during the meeting, but city attorney Cheryl Webster said police chief Tracy Vance, who was not at the meeting Tuesday, should be present, along with other department heads.
The council recessed after Tuesday’s regular meeting and will continue the discussion at 9 a.m. Tuesday, Dec. 11.
“We’re going to establish job descriptions for all of the departments,” Washington said after the meeting. “We started out talking about the police.”
Some of the issues that will be discussed when the meeting continues Dec. 11 include maintenance, citizens as a whole, city hall and finding land for mobile homes.
Matters police officers have to deal with in Friars Point did come up on Tuesday night.
Alderman Carltonez Done mentioned lights in the park had issues, which could cause problems.
“You have one police working,” one member of the audience said during the discussion.
Washington reiterated, when the meeting continues on Tuesday, police matters will be discussed.
He said one issue citizens are dealing with is leaving their home for 30 minutes and having someone break in and steal their items.
“The only concern I have there is we’re paying the taxpayer's money out,” Washington said.
“How many officers do you have on payroll?” one member of the audience asked.
“Three,” replied Washington.
Washington also said loitering and drinking in certain areas has been an issue. He said he would need to talk with property owners.
In other business:
William McMahan from Lula fixed all of the city sewage pumps at a discounted rate, but he also came back letting the council know several issues they would have to deal with.
“Our pumps weren’t working,” Washington said. “They were redone. They’re back working.”
The pumps were scattered throughout town.
The issues found after fixing the pumps were:
• Lack of maintenance care;
• Failure to check the system on a timely basis;
• Little or no chemical was used to help with grease build-up;
• No locks on the wells;
• No locks on the gates;
• Several lids are off manholes throughout the town; and
• Control floats are needed to put back on the pumps to shut or turn the pump off.
“We’re definitely going to deal with it all," Washington said. “We went around and checked everything. We had him (McMahan) employed to do that, so I had to get as much as I could out of him.”
The city water department will deal with the issues going forward.
n The seasonal workers for the town of Friars Point were officially terminated during Tuesday’s meeting.
“They work until the grass season is over,” Washington said. “Then we just terminate them until next year.”
