Cloverdale council continues to make improvements

CLOVERDALE -- It was business as usual for the Cloverdale Town Council on Tuesday evening. Among the issues discussed were police vehicles, the downtown vision, Branneman property and the town marshal.

Interim Town Marshal Charlie Hallam provided the board with some input on purchasing two new police vehicles, as was requested last month.

Hallam test-drove both a Ford Explorer along with a Ford Taurus. He however, was unable to test-drive a new Dodge Charger.

"The SUV was too boxy, I felt," Hallam said. "The sedan overall was the better of the two. I haven't had the chance to do the Charger yet.

"The other drawback on that," Hallam said, "is that those cars are probably as high as another SUV would be. They're about $27,000 with a state bid. The Charger is at $23,000 or just below."

Price-wise, Hallam preferred to purchase a new Charger, which is said to be a lot safer and includes the standard safety features. Purchasing a Charger would save the town about $4,000 on each car.

Gas mileage for both Fords averaged about 16 miles per gallon. The Chargers are said to average between 12-18 mpg.

"I tried to emulate as much as patrol-type tactics in them," Hallam said. "The biggest thing I would like to make sure that's in these cars are 800-mobile radios. Right now, all we use are our portables.

"There are areas in town and in the remote areas of some parts just outside of town, where you cannot get any communication with the mobile radios. I think with the savings that we get, we would be able to probably purchase four radios, enough for the cars we do have."

Hallam is still trying to work out what the actual cost will be for the two new police cars, including all the equipment needed, as well as what CPD can sell its existing cars for. He plans to test-drive a Charger before the March meeting and come back with a decision on what he thinks would be best.

The board also addressed the issue of school safety after a number of shootings have occurred nationwide. Hallam stressed that the department has been working with the schools and feels confident with the plans that are currently in place.

"We just try to keep our ears to the ground as best we can," Hallam said. "The school has a good handle on what they're doing. We feel pretty confident that we can handle that type of situation."

Clerk-Treasurer Cheryl Galloway gave the board an update regarding the IACT-Hyett Palma project, which has now been completed.

"I think it was a success," Galloway said. "We had a lot of turnout and a lot of good suggestions coming out."

Galloway is asking the community to step up and volunteer to help clean up the downtown area. She hopes to begin planting flowers in the spring.

Council President Don Sublett, Don Gedert and Galloway recently attended the House Ways and Means Committee to get the Food and Beverage Tax approved. However, it failed the state vote by a margin of 11-8.

"They said since the town has such a great need that they might let just us have this Food and Beverage Tax," Galloway said. "The committee, in their infinite wisdom, has seen that we really have this need. We might just get it for our town and I'm just over the top excited for it."

Building Inspector Mark Cassida brought to the council's attention the Morrison property, which the Board of Zoning Appeals (BZA) approved to go along with the inspections if approved by the council.

"He's got a lot of unlicensed vehicles," Cassida said.

Council member Dennis Padgett advised that a previous council tried to cite Morrison a few years back. That council had removed a lot of the cars on the property, however Morrison brought them back.

"I think what we need to do is whoever is towing them, we need them gone," Padgett said.

Town Attorney Allan Yackey advised the town that as long as the vehicles are inoperable Morrison is not allowed to bring the vehicles back up to his property.

"I understand that he's got a lot of stuff parked up on the right-of-way," explained Yackey. "He's got a misunderstanding. He's got junk packed up on the west side. Legally, he can't do that."

The town has had several problems in the past with Morrison. Every time action is taken against him, Morrison will fix the problem for a while and go back to the way things were, officials noted.

"It's definitely an eyesore," Hallam said. "Years ago they basically challenged police law enforcement before with the fact that if you show up on our property, we're going to shoot you."

"It's a hazard," Yackey agreed. "You still have the Highway Department that has to get up there. Rather than battle with him they simply agree to operate on the other side of the road, which means rather than having a two-way road there is a one-way road."

Hallam explained to the council that some of the things on the property, which was previously condemned, would most likely be a hazmat situation.

"It's one of those things that the tenant will only do what we insist that he do," Yackey said.

The town will weigh its options on what steps will be taken. Hallam will be getting proper documentation done before the March meeting and a decision is made.

The council again decided to continue the process of finding a permanent town marshal. Members agreed to hire Jeff Ritorto as a consultant. Ritorto was hired at a rate of $40 per hour and will help with the advertising and interviewing process.

Finally, the town has officially closed on the Branneman property. The property itself is 3.67 acres. The deed and the title insurance were done by Title and Abstract in Greencastle.