New Redkey officer hired (11/29/05)

REDKEY — A third full-time police officer will be patrolling the streets in this community in time for Christmas.

The officer, a former Dunkirk police officer now living in Nevada, was hired at a special meeting of the Redkey Town Council Monday morning.

Marshal Donnie James said that he had received eight applications for the vacant position. He discussed the top three candidates with council members Monday, recommending as his first choice former Dunkirk policeman, Tracy J. Layman, 41.

Council members voted unanimously to appoint Layman to the position with a probationary period of six months.

James said that Layman still has family in the region. He is currently in the process of moving back to Indiana and plans to make his home in Redkey, James added.

The marshal said that Layman served as a full-time patrolman in Dunkirk from 1990 to 1993, and Dunkirk Police Chief Arnold Clevenger gave him a very good recommendation. Layman has graduated from the Indiana Law Enforcement Academy, James added.

Layamn is expected to start work in the middle of December. He left Dunkirk to become the director of security at the Oasis Resort in Mesquite, Nev.

James said Layman wanted to be closer to relatives in the Redkey area.

In other business at Monday’s meeting, newly appointed clerk-treasurer Sandy Kirby presented a list of claims which she recommended for payment.

Amounts included $17,169 from the General Fund; $2,500 from the Motor Vehicle Highway Fund; $500 from the Park Fund; $32,000 from the Water Fund; $12,000 from the Sewage Fund; and $9,374 from the Trash User Fee Fund.

Also Kirby noted that within the last week, the town had received a tax draw of $67,000 from Jay County officials, and “as of today (Monday morning) Redkey had $114,000 in its bank account.”

However, she quickly added that some of the town’s funds were already overspent for the year with no money left in the operating or depreciation accounts in the water department.

“For the rest of the year we need to be in a crisis mode,” Kirby said.

Kirby emphasized that she wanted to stress to council members and department heads that they should all hold the line on spending. Also she noted that at the council’s next regular meeting on Dec. 15, she will be recommending some budget fund transfers to help the town get through the rest of the year. That meeting is scheduled for 6 p.m. at the town hall.

Also discussed at Monday’s meeting were delinquent water bills. Town council president Violet Erlenbush said that Kirby and town attorney John Brooke were going to be dealing with that issue over the coming months.[[In-content Ad]]