JONESTOWN—Jonestown will bring back two part-time police officers and made that decision during a special meeting Tuesday night.
Acting Mayor Gregory Neely, Sr., announced officers Byron Vaughan and Stephen James would fill those positions. Vaughan and James worked for the police department and were laid off when the positions were eliminated shortly after former mayor Kenny Lester took office in 2017.
Police Chief Rico Smith has been the department’s lone officer ever since.
Lester resigned from his position July 13 after pleading guilty on four counts of embezzlement prompting a special election next month. Neely has been the acting mayor ever since and the mayor elected Sept. 8 will be slated to finish the term that expires at the beginning of July 2021.
The filing deadline run for mayor is Wednesday. As of 9:30 this morning, Vivian Burnett, who ran for mayor in 2017, and Michael Muhammad are the two candidates.
“We’re going to bring them (officers) back as soon as we have an election,” Neely said.
“It’s already in the budget for police officers. We’re going to hire them. Actually, it was already in last year’s budget, but we just carried it over. We’re bringing them back part-time.”
Neely Sr. said the council had previously voted to rehire two officers while Lester was in office.
Neely Sr. added the reason the officers starting Sept. 8 would allow them to be on the job for a full pay period.
Vaughan and James are expected to be at the monthly city council meeting in September. The council meeting is on the same day as the election Sept. 8.
“We want to bring them in for the next board meeting, just reintroduce them to the public,” Neely said.
“I think that’s what we ought to do,” said Alderman Unta Wiley in agreement.
Neely discussed purchasing weapons for Vaughan and James.
When Lester was found guilty, he admitted to embezzling a firearm from the Jonestown Police Department and converting it to his own use.
“The police chief is looking for a grant to offset some of the cost of the weapons,” Neely said.
He also briefly mentioned making sure the officers had uniforms.
“I think we’ve got some uniforms upstairs, the ones that they turned in and we’ll take a look at them,” Neely said.
The topic of hiring a new city clerk came up during the meeting.
Melissa Woodley has been acting as city clerk ever since Mary Galmore’s resignation.
“We have the applications, but I think those people need to resubmit those applications,” Neely said. “We need a resume and at least three references.”
Neely said the board needs to review the resumes and applications.
