The Newton Police Department could become the third department in the county to utilize body cameras after a sales representative gave a presentation to the Board of Aldermen at their final meeting of 2017 on Dec. 19.
Robert Cantely, of Digital Ally, a Lenexa, Kansas. -based company that produces body cameras for police departments around the nation, presented the board with two models of its cameras and laid out pricing plans for the city.
Several police departments around the country, including the Decatur and Hickory departments, have used body cameras to prevent lawsuits and to monitor the behavior of officers.
The board voted to table the issue until next month’s meeting before making a decision on purchasing the body cameras.
The board also spoke with representatives from Gray Daniels Ford in Brandon, about leasing a new police department vehicle. NPD Chief Harvey Curry said some of the department’s vehicles are getting old and that three new vehicles would need to be purchased soon.
Gray Daniels offers the options to police departments to buy vehicles with once-a-year payments and municipalities can buy the vehicles outright after three years.
The board also chose BankPlus to negotiate the loan for the construction of the rail spur project for the Biewer Lumber Sawmill.
BankPlus presented a 3 percent fixed percentage rate to the city on Dec. 5 and BankFirst presented a percentage rate of 2.9 percent on Dec. 19.
Mayor Murray Weems made the recommendation to the board that because BankPlus presented it percentage rate proposal first, that it be awarded the loan bid.
The loan will be for $1,035,050.
The board also approved a change order for the railroad spur project because the amount of material needed was reduced.
In other business, the board also:
• considered to a written proposal from Marion Wheaton, representing Concerned Citizens of Newton Promoting Economic Growth, that detailed a sanitation/trash ordinance. The proposal named as areas of concentration Martin Luther King Street, Oak Street, Horace Watts Drive, the exits off of Hwy. 15 for Old Hickory Road, Church Street, MLK Street and the Southern Pine entrance. The proposal also lists fines for litterers and applying for grants from the United States Department of Agriculture and the Mississippi Development Authority.
• voted to waive the rental fee for the Newton Municipal School District to use the Historic Train Depot for its football banquet on Jan. 25, but the school district will still pay the cleanup deposit.
• agreed to move forward with enforcement of the city’s noise ordinance after city attorney Robert Logan found that the ordinance was very similar to the one in Meridian.
The board’s next meeting will be on Jan. 2.
