Dresden Police Chief Introduces Officers to the Board

Shannon Taylor

Editor

Dresden Police Chief Bryan Chandler introduced his police officers to the Dresden board of mayor and alderman at the April 1 board meeting.

“A couple of weeks ago, nobody really knew who was working for the police department anymore, and I've asked my police department to be here this evening to recognize each one of them. I'm very proud of every one of them,” Chandler stated.

Chandler introduced Sergeant Thomas Travis is an officer canine handler, Officer Kyle Watkins, Officer Jared Wilcutt, Officer Chandler Finch, Officer David King, and Officer Lauren Simmons.

“This is the Police Department as it is right now. I do have two conditional offers of employment that have been extended and hopefully we'll get them in uniform here very soon. That’s my team,” Chandler said.

A new business budget resolution was passed which included moving some funds out of the fund balance into the general fund. Carla Edwards, Finance Director, said that the tax reappraisal from the county came in higher than budgeted, and the insurance came in much higher than budgeted.

“Primarily because we typically receive credits from public entity partners, and they did not do the credits this year, but they will be doing them next year. But in the meantime, within the executive area, we don't have that much variability, so I don't really have any way to cover these costs because the line items are going to be under budget, so I'm just pulling that money right now out of fund balance, but I expect by the end of the year that with all of the other departments, we will have under budget situations there that will offset this by the end of June,” Edwards explained.

The second item is for the downtown improvement grant.

“We had made payments to Claire Brooke Consignment and Antiques on the Square for improvements they're making to the outside of the building, and we received the funds from the state to reimburse us for that. We're putting that back in the budget,” Edwards said.

The final item was a drug fund.

“We have budgeted for a new vehicle for $40,000 out of the drug fund. The vehicle found was just slightly over budget by $1,694 and we're just pulling that out of the fund balance to fully budget for that new vehicle that they received,” Edwards stated.

The resolution for a budget amendment was approved unanimously.

City Recorder Jennifer Branscum announced that the Iris Festival will start Saturday, April 27 and run through Saturday, May 4. The Iris Festival schedule of events booklet is available at City Hall.