Fayette City Marshal David Ford gave an impassioned plea to those in attendance at the regular meeting of the Board of Aldermen last Tuesday night, May 27, regarding the possibility of changing the city’s top law enforcement officer from an elected to an appointed position. The move would effectively take the choice away from the voters and hand it to the city council, he said.

Chief Ford made the comments during his allotted time on the council’s agenda, choosing not to address the board members, but to those citizens present at the meeting. “It’s a bad idea,” he said and emphasized that the role should remain accountable to the people rather than be influenced by city leadership, which he accused of creating a “hostile work environment” in recent years.

“I’m pretty passionate about this,” Ford said, noting the change likely wouldn’t affect him due to his plans to retire soon.

“For some reason, it keeps coming up that the council is talking about replacing the elected position with an appointed position. I don’t know why this keeps coming up. Nobody so far has been explained to me why. I just find it curious that it just keeps coming up,” said Chief Ford, noting that members of the current council are not the ones who have pushed the idea.

“I think it’s wrong to take the decision-making ability out of the voting public and turn it over to six individuals that will control everything that the Chief of Police does,” Chief Ford added. “I’ve had the council take officers away from me whenever we needed more officers. I’ve had them interfere in my budgets before and basically cause a hostile work environment for me by yelling at me in front of other staff, telling me I’m not doing my job, and stuff like that. I still would like to understand why those certain people who keep bringing it up think it’s a good idea. And I’ve asked, and they just never answered. So I just wanted to start putting word out, and I may do this every meeting for the next several months until I’m out, just to get the word there. I’m also going to be going out and talking to the public about it because it’s a bad idea. I think it’s a power play for certain people on the council right now, and you all don’t want it. It’d be bad news.”

In regular business, the council approved a variety of items, including the Howard County Fairgrounds Development Association’s plan to add a new skeet shooting facility behind the existing archery berm. Board members granted unanimous approval provided that the city will be adequately insured.

After extended discussion on how to approve a bid from Larry Lawson Concrete in the amount of $22,000 to complete improvements to the City Hall entrance, the board voted 6-0 to move ahead with the ADA-compliant project so that it can be completed within the current fiscal year. Lawson’s was the lowest of two bids received. The Historic Preservation Commission (HPC) will be notified and given an opportunity to review the plans; however, the board has opted to proceed with the project, for which the city has allocated $50,000 in the current budget.

Additionally, the council agreed to return the former City Hall sign to the Dodson family. The sign had been taken down in recent years and was stored in the city garage. “We didn’t think it was appropriate to put back up there,” explained Mayor Greg Stidham. “It really wasn’t historic. It was a plastic sign face.”

The board approved moving forward with the city’s street repair project in partnership with OWN Engineering. The Community Improvement District (CID) will fund up to 100% of repairs at three intersections and the downtown square. Two members of the CID board also sit on the city council. They are J.B. Waggoner and Grafton Cook, both representing the Southwest Ward.

City streets have been in disrepair for decades, with the last real improvement project dating back to 2002. In recent years, repaving had been put off until a sewer improvement project was completed, as much of the work involved cutting through streets. But years later, nothing has been done, and streets are worse than ever all over town.

Recently elected Northwest Ward Alderman Pat Roll said in conversations with constituents, citizens have expressed excitement but remain skeptical about the street paving project. “It’s been beat into their heads for so long that nothing’s going to change.” East Ward Alderman David Frees echoes that, relaying the sentiment from his constituents amounts to, “I’ll believe it when I see it.”

The council also approved various expenditures for light poles and electric meters and voted to increase its monthly pledge to the Fayette Senior Center from $150 to $300.

The Fayette Board of Aldermen meets regularly at 6 p.m. on the second and fourth Tuesdays of every month in City Hall. The next meeting will be held on June 10. Meetings are open, agendas are published in advance, and the public is invited.