The City of Newton is looking at changing its policy on using city equipment to bury horse or large livestock animals.
Public Works Director Gary Turner said he received a call from Animal Control officer J.C. Collins about a horse dying in somebody’s backyard. They wanted to see if the city could come out there to remove their horse and dispose of animal’s remains.
“That’s a big price because we’d need to use two pieces of equipment and four employees to move that horse out their backyard,” Turner said. “This is the third time I’ve had to do this since I’ve been here.”
City Attorney Brian Mayo said anytime you go on private property to do any work, it is an issue. Currently, he didn’t think the current animal ordinance covered burials of livestock animals.
Turner said it costs at least $900 to $1,000 to use city property and remove the dead animals from a person’s property. And many times, the city also has to bury the animals on city property.
While Turner was not looking for immediate relief on the issue now, he wanted to have something in place for future calls.
In other business, the board of Mayor and Aldermen:
• Approved a 12-month for a $10,557.83 CD renewal at BankFirst at the rate of 0.75 percent.
• Will hold public hearings for 406 Wood St owned by Jamie Porter and 211 W. Railroad St. owned by Ida Morrison on Dec. 20 at 6 p.m.
• Approved travel for Dan Moncrief, Temeka Drummond and Bob Bridges to attend Mid-Winter Conference in Jackson Jan. 10-14.
• Closed City Hall for Veterans Day Nov. 11.
• Approved Mayo attending the Winter MMA meeting in Jackson Jan. 11.
• Will pay Neel-Shaffer $9,150 for the Newton MCWI water project on Herman St. when funds become available.
• Sent a courtesy letters to EZ Stop and 101 N. Newton Ave.
• Heard from Mayor Antonio Hoye who asked local businesses and industries to consider sponsorship of youth league teams.
• Will send Turner to Salt Lake City, Utah, for training on new city equipment Nov. 17-19.
• Sent Turner to water training class in Raymond Nov. 7-10.
• Accepted the resignation of Deandra Wilson effective Nov. 1 and hired Wilson on a 4-1 vote as a part time employee at $12.50 per hour. Eric McCalphia voted nay.
• Discussed getting a reimbursement from Wilson after he lost a police body camera.
• Hired Noah Cutway as an uncertified officer at $12.50 per hour and will send him to the academy in January.
• Will give a pay increase to officer Demarcus Jones for completing the police academy. His new rate will be $14.42 per hour.
• Paid claims totaling $227,962.60 with $146,739.14 coming from the general fund, $78,388.95 from the water fund and $2,834.51 from the motel tax fund.
• Held an executive session to discuss job performance and possible litigation.
The board’s next meeting will be Tuesday, Nov. 15, at 5:30 p.m. in the temporary city hall building on Hwy. 15.
