Kingsland Approves CCSD Police Contract

RISON - The Kingsland City Council voted in a special-called meeting last Friday evening at Kingsland City Hall to renew its contract with the Cleveland County Sheriff’s Department for law enforcement services, Mayor Sharon Crosby said.All three city council members present for the meeting - Karen Wiscaver, Sandra Laws and Lee Penister - voted to approve the yearly contract with the sheriff’s department. Sheriff Jack Rodgers was also at the meeting.During its regular monthly meeting in October, the Kingsland City Council voted to table making a decision on renewing the contract until its November meeting to be held Nov. 21. Some of the city council members expressed concerns about the number of patrols in the city.Meanwhile, Sheriff Rodgers told the Cleveland County Quorum Court during its regular meeting earlier this month that he did not know if he would honor the sheriff’s department contract with Kingsland since it would not be in his budget that is being presented to the quorum court’s budget committee today (Wednesday, Nov. 13). The quorum court gave the sheriff a vote of confidence that it would back whatever decision he reached.All county departments, including the sheriff’s department, present their annual budgets for the upcoming year during the annual budget committee meeting held each November. The quorum court then approves those budgets in its December meeting.Both Rodgers and Crosby confirmed that they visited about the contract after the Kingsland City Council’s October meeting as well as after the quorum court meeting earlier this month. Both said the conversations were productive.The contract approved by the city council last week is for $900 per month. Of that amount, $550 of it goes into the equipment fund while $350 will go to the county general fund, which is used to pay salaries for the sheriff’s department and other county personnel.Originally, the sheriff’s department was as...