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By JANA LYNN RUPE
newsdesk@ jacksboronewspapers.com
Jacksboro City Council members voted unanimously Thursday at a special called meeting to hire Terry McDaniel, to head up the Police Department as Chief of Police. McDaniel is a former Jacksboro Police Officer with an extensive background in criminal justice serving most recently for the Saginaw Police Department. His background includes 11 years with the Palo Pinto Sheriff’s Department and the Cross Timbers Narcotic Task Force. His resumé is long and filled with collaboration with many state and federal agencies to provide information and coordinate efforts as a peace officer within and as a part of law enforcement. “I look forward to the challenges this position will offer and encourage the community to contact my office with any concerns they have,” said McDaniel.
On July 13, council members met in regular session and approved a resolution authorizing the city manager to offer early retirement incentive pay to employees with 11 or more years of service who are eligible for Texas Municipal Retirement System and to execute separation agreements, offered voluntarily to qualified employees. City Manager Shawna Dowell addressed aldermen at the beginning of the meeting with details on how the program would function. “This program is not designed to ‘push out’ certain employees, but is a voluntary program, offered now as a cost containment measure for the City,” said Dowell. “When we looked at expenses during budget talks, this option seemed logical.” Several city employees were on hand to hear details of the package, but it was a member of management who voiced concern. He cited the possibility of losing several staff members, causing a hardship to the maintenance and utilities department by having to hire and train new employees to undertake what the current employees have provided, in terms of knowledge and experience. Dowell assured city council members that this possibility had been addressed during budget talks and considerations are already in place on how to respond to potential hardship circumstances. “This is just one of many efforts being considered in the budget process to trim the city’s budget so that it is ‘lean and mean,’” said Dowell. Aldermen also approved two resolutions, which include authorizing the city manager to purchase equipment for the water treatment plant and enter a lease agreement with First National Bank for the purchase of a tractor loader backhoe. In other business, council members approved minutes of the June 22 regular meeting and special called meetings of June 28 and July 1. The city’s finance director, Erika Hobson presented the monthly reports for May and June, highlighting a 105 percent collection rate on property taxes. Dowell introduced Dylan Mansell, one of two new police officers recently hired on with the Jacksboro Police Department. Mansell is from Fort Worth, educated in the criminal justice program at Navarro College. Trent Yowell of Mineral Wells is the other officer assigned; however, he was not at the city council meeting. Yowell received his criminal justice training at Weatherford College. Under closed session, two agenda items were listed and included consultation with the city attorney on action in Travis District court in the Two Bush Community Action Group v. Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, IESI TX Landfill and the City of Jacksboro; and a claim by resident Rodney D. Heltzel for alleged damage to property he owns located at 109 N. Main St. and 111 N. Main St. No action was taken on these two items once closed session ended. |
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