Pictured, from left, are Council Member Gene Warner, Council President Niki Miller and Council Member Liz Heiman. InkFreeNews photo by Liz Shepherd.

CLAYPOOL — The Claypool Town Council voted to alleviate the deputy marshal position during its meeting on Tuesday, Sept. 17.

Council President Niki Miller said the reason for the position’s removal is due to the town’s need for a full-time employee in the utility and street department.

“[Clerk-Treasurer] Pat and I met with the State Board of Accounts and there’s just…there’s no way,” said Miller in regards to the town budgeting for both a deputy marshal and full-time utility employee.

Randy Bays is currently serving as the town’s deputy marshal. He was sworn into the position in February 2019.

“This is my opinion, but at this point in time, we need to alleviate the deputy marshal position because we can’t pay both a part-time deputy and a full-time employee with the utility department,” said Miller.

Miller asked Town Marshal Ben Sanders if police duties could be covered by reserve officers even with the alleviation of the deputy marshal position.

“Reserve officers only had 58 hours in August,” said Sanders. “That’s down from about 150. If we’re looking at having more reserve coverage, our ordinance only allows for four reserve officers. I would ask that if the council’s decision is to get rid of the deputy marshal position, in order to help maintain coverage that we have with Randy as deputy marshal, I would ask that we amend that ordinance to have at least two more reserve officers.”

Council Member Gene Warner said an executive session was held regarding the decision and that council members agreed to remove the position of deputy marshal for now.

“We have to make some cuts and unfortunately, the marshal is paid out of our general fund, whereas a utility person would be paid out of the water and wastewater portion,” said Miller. “And I’m going to make the assumption that Randy would want to stay on as a reserve, so we’re not losing him as a police officer, but as a deputy marshal. He would still be working with us. We’re being forced into the position because of our budget.”

Sanders also discussed the possibility of applying for grants that pay for a majority of the deputy marshal’s salary.

“Is applying for a grant something we could consider in order to bring back the deputy marshal position?” asked Sanders.

“Absolutely,” said Miller. “I’m not against bringing the position back. I just think, for the moment, this is what we’re being forced into doing.”

As a result of alleviating the deputy marshal position, the council voted to amend the ordinance regarding officer reserves so that Sanders can have six reserve officers.

In other business, Ken Archer discussed the idea of Claypool having a trunk-or-treat on Halloween. Claypool United Methodist Church, the Claypool Lions Club and Claypool Elementary School have shown interest in helping with the event.

“We just think it would be nice to have people passing out candy all in one spot for the kids,” said Archer. “People can decorate their cars and come downtown to pass out candy.”

Main Street between Section and Calhoun Streets would be closed from 5 to 8 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 31, with the trunk-or-treat taking place from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. The council approved the street closure for Halloween.

“I love this idea and it keeps the kids to a central location,” said Miller. “We could put flyers in water bills to spread awareness about the trunk-or-treat.”

Sanders also told council members that Habitat for Humanity is interested in building two new houses on land that has been donated to the town of Claypool.

“We need approval from the council to transfer these two properties to Habitat for Humanity,” said Sanders. “They would like to help the residents of Claypool first who are renting or need a bigger house. I think it would be a great gesture from the town to donate the properties to them.”

Council voted to begin the process of donating the properties to Habitat for Humanity.

The council also:

• Approved the idea of the town having a scrap metal pick-up day. A date has not been determined.
• Approved Sanders attending the International Association of Chiefs of Police conference in Chicago from Oct. 27 to 29.

The council’s next meeting is at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 15.