How many police officers in Earle?

How many police officers in Earle?

Questions abound after uniform request

news@theeveningtimes.com

Did Earle hire an 11th police officer? The city received an invoice from CMS Uniforms of Memphis for $113.46 for an Officer Rainey.

Councilman Kenneth Cross asked City Clerk Cynthia Conner whether Mayor Carolyn Jones had hired a new officer.

“Has the city hired any police officers over ten,” Cross asked.

“Well, I got an invoice,” Conner responded.

“What was the bill for,” Cross pressed.

“For a uniform,” Conner answered.

Conner told the city council that she never saw any official paperwork that Rainey had been hired though.

“I don’t know,” Conner said. “He has not come up front to do any paperwork.” Cross said although the mayor does the hiring, the city did not budget money for more than ten officers.

The city has three full time officers and seven part-time officers.

Jones was not at the last council meeting to answer questions.

“I don’t know what is going on,” Cross said. “But we did not budget any money for any new officers.”

The city was down one police officer following the resignation of acting-Chief Mary Fowler.

Councilwoman Jimmie Barham confirmed that the city had only budgeted for ten police positions.

“We put it down in black and white for every item,” Barham said.

Barham said that in the past new officers have always been brought before the city council to be introduced.

“We haven’t had that opportunity,” Barham said.

Cross asked his colleagues what they wanted to do about it.

“The question is, do we pay them?” Cross asked.

“Because it’s not in the budget. We did our budget over the course of two weeks and we did not budget any money for an officer. So what are we going to do about the police officer.” Councilman Donnie Cheers said he isn’t sure anyone was actually hired.

“Are you sure he got hired?” Cheers asked.

“She said she got a PO (Purchase order) for a uniform. That’s the only thing I can conclude — that she (Jones) has hired an officer,” Cross responded.

“That’s not saying he got hired,” Cheers continued.

“What is it saying?” Cross asked.

“That’s not saying he got hired,” Cheers said. “We can’t deal with it until we find out.”

“Why would be getting a bill first?” Cross asked.

“She shouldn’t be bringing a bill to us,” Cheers agreed. Councilman Charlie Young pressed for an answer.

“So did we hire ?” Young asked.

Conner said she has not seen any paperwork — other than the bill for the uniform — to confirm that another officer had been hired.

“No one has come through with paperwork,” Conner said. “I can not say that he is hired. I just saw the PO.

Usually when someone had been hired they go over there (to the uniform supply company) and put in a PO for a uniform. That is the only thing I know about Rainey.”

The city has not paid the bill for the uniform, Conner said.

Cheers, like Barham, agreed that the city did not budget for any more police officers.

“To answer the question, we budgeted for ten officers,” Cheers said. “That’s all we’ve got to spend is for ten officers.”

“So if she hired him, then she is going to take it out of her salary, correct?” Cross added.

By Mark Randall