Girard council OKs 2017 appropriations

By Sarah Lehr

slehr@vindy.com

GIRARD

City council voted Monday to hire a part-time records clerk for the police department.

The clerk will earn $10 an hour without benefits.

Because the department lacks a records clerk, dispatchers have spent considerable time completing secretarial work and responding to public information requests, acting Police Chief Capt. Chief John Norman said.

“Essentially, we need support staff, and we have none,” Norman said.

Auditor Sam Zirafi suggested the city fund the clerk using a small portion of revenue from a handheld speed camera adopted by the city during summer 2016.

City council will need to vote to redistribute the revenue during a subsequent meeting.

From August 2016 through January 2017, the city generated about $406,561 from the camera, according to figures provided by the city. During that time period, the camera resulted in 17,586 civil citations, including 11,724 paid citations. Of the 513 citations contested by drivers, 110 were contested successfully.

In other business, council approved appropriations for 2017.

Council typically votes on ordinance passage after three readings, but members voted Monday to suspend the third reading.

Council introduced the appropriations, which include about $5 million for the general fund, earlier this month.