The council had some concerns about the policy, but generally agreed an ordinance was necessary. Councilwoman Sherwin Rader said her questions basically were about the wording of the proposed policy.
“It says we will not pursue a vehicle. What does that pursuit mean? Does that mean you can't stop a vehicle? Does it mean you can't follow them a certain distance? The wording it stated worried me,” she said.
Rader said also there were some items she wanted clarified, as a lawsuit may be possible if the current wording was placed in an ordinance.
“I want to be sure that if someone is breaking a law that the police has the right to stop them. Pursuit, sometimes, could mean something different to you and I as it does to a policeman. Does that mean chase them, or speed, or does that mean that you go so many feet before they say they are stopping willingly. It was the wording that bothered me,” stated Rader.
Currently the Pineville Police does not have a written pursuit policy.
“What I am trying to do is to curtail any problems outside the city limits. Our past pursuit policies and trying to get them in line means we have to find out what other pursuit policies are and try to adjust ours to where it fits us,” commented Collins.
A new pursuit policy would lessen the liability on the city.
“It is a safety issue, right now. This is something that needs to be done to come into compliance with everyone else. Kentucky has one, including the state police. Everyone is now getting pursuit policies,” Collins said. “It will save a whole lot for the city. It is no doubt that we will get one. We just need to word it a bit differently.”
City employees were given an increase in wages of fifty cents an hour. The council had the first reading of the Personnel Policy Codes and Grades to reflect the changes in personnel pay.
The first reading of the 2006-2007 budget was passed, including the property tax/Ad Valorem Tax of 31.5 cents for 2006.
Gasoline for city vehicles continues going up. The street and police department have changed some of the ways they are working in order to save gas. The city work crew is walking more, as well as the police. When there are two police officers on duty, one is walking the streets and neighborhoods. This not only saves gas, but also puts the police face-to-face with the public.
The fire department has been using more gas as they have more people training, have gone to more fire schools and have taken the fire trucks to Corbin for inspections.
“When you give good people a raise, it is all eaten up with high costs,” Mayor Bruce Hendrickson said, adding, “Insurance rates are also going up.”
“We have done well, considering other cities are going down in financial trouble,” Hendrickson stated.
The city's budget has gone up some, to cover higher costs of gas and other products.
“I think that it is unique that we don't have that much funding, but we are still good, in the black. We have been that careful,” said Hendrickson.
The council, on second reading, changed Prospect Avenue, by the football field, to Bill Adams Drive. The city is to put up a regular street sign to designate the street, named for the late longtime Pineville football coach and school superintendent.
The alley behind Kentucky Fried Chicken is to be closed to allow the expansion of Bell-Whitley Community Action Agency.
In other business, council members decided that traffic control lights on all Pineville streets, except Tennessee Avenue and Park Avenue, are to be removed, as stop signs are at each location. Vegetation that is blocking stop signs is to be removed.
C.J. Harte is a Correspondent for the Daily News. He can be reached via e-mail at charte@middlesborodailynews.com.
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