By Paul Garrod
Staff Writer
news4garrod@gmail.com
LAWTON – The Lawton Village Council approved a motion at the Oct. 8 Lawton Village Council meeting to increase fulltime pay for Lawton police officers.
Village Of Lawton Chief of Police Greg Cordes said that increasing the pay amount to $32 an hour, will keep the village police department in the ballpark and slow the exodus of police officers leaving the department.
Police Chief Cordes said wages are already at what the contract would have been next year with the previous wage increase. He said the village will be about $2 to $3.50 behind the county, but it is more doable. Police Chief Cordes said that parttime officers’ pay will remain where it is at, and utilizing parttime will cut down on overtime.
Village council members discussed ideas on how to get this information out to the public to show what is being implemented and the reasoning behind it.
In a related area, Chief of Police Cordes told the village council that a new parttime officer has been hired, and that funding for half of the cost of bullet proof vests offered through the federal government has been approved.
During Citizen Comments, Sheila Penn, of 915 29th St., asked if the village has found any information on the road. Village Todd Hackenberg said that he found a private road maintenance agreement from 2016, however, he did not know if it came to the village council to privatize the road. Village council members said they recalled it being temporarily closed, but did not remember the public road being privatized. Residents living on the road have provided notarized documents. Following a discussion, it was found that there is documentation from a current owner, and county property lines show those properties going up to Lawton Community Schools.
Council members will take up the issue with the village attorney.
Lucinda Whippo, of 223 Main St., said a sewer line has been connected to her neighbors for several years. At one point, they took it upon themselves to have a new sewer line put in from the road to their home. The previous Lawton Department of Public Works Superintendent got
stuck looking into a backup for them into the road and retired them into their neighbors.
Whippo told the village council that when the neighbor’s sewer line gets backed up, her sewer line does as well. She told council members she would like to get the problem fixed.
Village Manager Hackenberg apologized that communication did not come through to her, however, he is looking into a solution to fix the problem.
The village council set village “trick or treat hours” for Thursday, Oct. 31, from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m.
PJ Chmiel and Michael Dudek were both reappointed to four-year terms on the Village of Lawton Planning Commission. The tems will expire Nov. 1, 2028.
Village Manager Hackenberg said a demolition permit has been issued for D. Coy Duck.
