The Winchester Board of Commissioners approved an order that solidifies the police escort services policy for the Winchester Police Department.
The order doesn’t change how police operate when on escort duty but puts the department in regulation by having a written policy in place.
“This is a straight-up regulation requirement,” Chief Kevin Palmer said. “We’re changing nothing in how we escort winning football teams, funerals, Marathon Oil or the various people we escort. This just has to be on paper.”
Palmer also said the department adopted a model policy from the Kentucky League of Cities.
Commissioners also approved the second reading of a change to the department’s
Taser policy. The change removes any mention of the shotgun Tasers the department no longer uses.
In old business, the commissioners spent some time discussing the fire department’s promotional waiver policy. Commissioner Shannon Cox had asked for an opportunity to discuss the policy at a special meeting of the board last month after the board approved a pair of waivers to expand the hiring pool for a battalion chief position.
Cox’s stance is that there should be requirements in place to apply for positions within the department or to have none at all, with no reason for having to grant waivers to allow applicants to complete required training after the promotional process.
Commissioner Rich Beach said he would like to see the fire department be able to expand its potential hiring pool to outside the department and outside the city. Mayor Ed Burtner said a possible solutionwould be to change the city’s rules on hiring outside the department.
The board did not take any action on the policy.
In other business, the board also:
— approved an order to demolish the property at 45 Evans St. The bid was awarded to DMH Construction.
— approved a standard agreement with wrecker service operators.
— approved the purchase of radios, traffic cones and barricades with federal forfeiture funds.
— approved a request for Lt. Bryan Howard to travel out of state to attend a week-long class at the National Fire Academy in Emmitsburg, Md.
Contact Casey Castle at ccastle@winchestersun.com.
