At Tuesday night’s village council meeting, Lucas resident Harold Ferrell was sworn in to fill out the remainder of former member Judd Cook’s term. He will fill this position until the first of the year when he assumes his own term and, at that time, the council will again re-fill the empty position left behind by Cook.
Mayor Todd Hall updated the council on his conversation with the owner of the junkyard next to Lucas’ Village Hall. The amount of vehicles awaiting recycling has become an eyesore. The owner told the mayor that he is waiting for the price of junk to maximize the vehicle’s value. Further, the owner claims he’s unable to remove these vehicles until sometime in the spring. The council made no decisions on how to move forward with this problem at Tuesday’s meeting but agreed it needs to be resolved.
Mayor Hall reported that the Dollar General deal is progressing and is still in the initial phases. They expect to hear something back regarding the property specifications and measurements within the next two weeks to make sure it meets their requirements.
This time of year is when Efficiency Smart offers the Village of Lucas free light bulbs to residents. They’ve contacted the mayor about doing it again this year – passing out seven light bulbs per resident. After they are able to work out a conflict with the village schedule, the bulbs will be issued on a door-to-door delivery system.
The mayor presented a request to give village employees the day of Christmas Eve off with pay instead of a half day.
“I just have to pose the question: How much need is there going to be for everybody to be down here that day?” said Hall. Council unanimously approved the full day off instead of a half day.
Another proposal Hall made to council, and said he will continue to bring up, is the need for Lucas to have their own police department. Currently, the village pays $25,000 each year for the sheriff’s department for minimal coverage of their area.
“To date, we’ve generated revenues, just from conventional traffic tickets alone, of $7,099,” stated Hall.
“If we had our own department that’s operating under our watch, the revenues generated would be far greater. I’m not saying the department would be paying for itself, but I still think in the long run we’ll get more bang for our buck…it’s an operation we would basically have control of,” explained the mayor.
The village has already received inquiries from three different police officers who’ve said they would be interested in working part-time for the village. “I’m not going to let this go…I’m going to keep bringing it up because I really believe it’s the way to go,” emphasized Hall.
Council Vice President Joey Lawhun said, “If you can come up with the numbers showing that we can maintain our own department – fully – with the budget we have for the sheriff’s department, I’d be all for it.”
Council member Ton Sawyer said he would like to find out what the start-up costs would be in order to have their own police department.
This year’s tree lighting in Lucas will take place on Monday, December 2 at 6 p.m.
