Newspaper Page Text
Vol. 140
No. 26
24 Pages
2 Sections
Wednesday
AUGUST 17, 2016
mmerce News
www.CommerceNewsTODAY.com
50 Cents COVERING THE COMMERCE AREA SINCE 1875
Chief resigns,
search for
replacement
is under way
Commerce is looking for a
new police chief.
City manager James
Wascher said Wednesday
morning, Aug. 10, that Bran
don Sellers submitted his
r e sig n a-
tion, effec
tive Sept.
9 — almost
exactly a
year since
he took the
job.
“During
this time, we
will work closely to create
a transition plan while I go
through the process of hiring
a new police chief,” Wascher
said in an email on the sub
ject.
Sellers had not been at
work since Jackson Coun
ty deputies responded to a
domestic dispute at his res
idence July 20 in which his
wife allegedly shoved him
and he responded by placing
her in a headlock and taking
her to the floor.
Jackson County Sheriff
Janis Mangum said that the
incident report indicated that
Sellers’ wife was the aggres
sor. The department did not
file any charges.
Sellers went to a police
chiefs’ convention, then took
vacation time, was out of the
office earlier this week for
training and came in Aug.
10 and told Wascher he was
quitting. He is back on active
duty.
Wascher said the city will
re-evaluate the job description
of police chief, then advertise
the position for 30 days. He
plans to form a committee to
See “Chief” on 3A
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Brandon
Sellers
INDEX
Church News 6B
Classified Ads 8-9B
Crime News 6-8A
Obituaries 7 B
Opinion 4A
School 12A
Sports 1-4B
Social News...9-11A
MAILING LABEL BELOW
Commerce government
Hearings don't change plans to
close Benton Elementary School
School still set to merge at the end of the school year
By Alex Pace
After two weeks of public hearings, the decision
to close Benton Elementary School stands.
The Jackson County Board of Education held its
final public hearing Monday, Aug. 15. No motion
was made to rescind the BOE’s previous vote to
repurpose the Benton facility and comprehensively
rezone the county’s elementary schools.
The second hearing was notably less combative
than the one held Aug. 8. Superintendent April
Howard addressed the crowd before Monday’s
hearing and said the divisiveness of the previous
meeting was troubling.
“Let’s be better tonight than we were last week,”
said Howard.
A Benton mother, Teresa Garcia, stressed the is
sue isn’t east side versus west side and urged parents
to “come together.”
“It is you, it is me, who is going to teach our kids
how to handle problems,” said Garcia. “And calling
each other names is not the way to go. We’re sup
posed to be seeking solutions...”
Many of the 13 people who spoke Aug. 15 said
the county needed to unify. Some apologized for the
tone of the previous meeting.
Still, many people voiced their opinions both in
favor and opposition of the closing during the two-
hour hearing.
Several people urged the BOE to comprehensive
ly rezone all elementary schools before making the
decision to close BES.
“Why can there not be another plan before clos
ing a school?” said Marlena Haggess.
Howard said it would be nearly impossible to get
See “Benton” on Page 3A
Field work
for the
Tiger band
The 2016-17
Commerce
High School
Marching Tiger
Band plays a
number from its
2016 halftime
show, “Pure
Imagination,”
during a recent
practice ses
sion. The band
comprises 55
members under
the direction of
first-year band
director Leyland
Alexander.
See Page 5B
Commerce government
City council okays budget
amendments, use of reserves
As expected, the Commerce City Council
on Monday night approved amendments to
both the Fiscal Year 2016 and FY 2017 budgets.
State law requires the city to amend its bud
get at the end of each fiscal year to reflect vari
ations between the budget and actual income
and expenditures.
For FY 2016, the city had greater-than-ex-
pected revenues in its budgets for the Down
town Development Authority the Commerce
Civic Center, the Electric Fund and the Water
Fund to the tune of about $100,000.
For the FY 2017 budget, the council accepted
interim city manager James Wascher’s recom
mendation to roll that $100,000 surplus from
FY2016 into the fY2017 budget along with about
$154,000 in other reserve funds to pay for health
insurance costs that were well over what was
anticipated for the current fiscal year, a 2.5per-
cent employee pay raise, part-time maintenance
help for the Commerce Recreation Department,
money to hire an outside contractor to maintain
the Boys and Girls Club property Spencer Park
and the new Smallwood Drive park and the
new”gateway sign,” and the funding of an addi
tional code enforcement officer.
The total funds added to the FY2017 budget
are $264,577.
Other Business
In other business Monday night, the city
council:
•approved the reappointment of Adam
Fouche, Andre Rollins and Jimbo Stephenson
to the Commerce Planning Commission for
four-year terms.
• approved a beer and wine package sales
license to Manveer LLC, 2595 North Broad
Street (the former Presto’s location).
• approved street closures for the 39th annu
al Tigers on the Town Pep Rally on Thursday
Aug. 25, at Spencer Park. Parts of Little, Oak
and Pine streets will be dosed during the
event.
•changed the date of the council’s Sep
tember work session from Monday Sept. 5, to
Tuesday Sept. 6, at 6 p.m. due to the Labor Day
holiday. The meeting will be moved to the Cold
Sassy Room in the dvic center.
• heard Wascher report that one month into
the fiscal year, the General Fund was in the red
by $27,624, the Water Fund had revenue over
expenditures of $159,524, the Electric Fund was
$109,533 to the good and the Gas Fund was
$96,581 in the hole.
•heard Wascher introduce new staff
accountant Christy Case. “Her ability to learn
is outstripping my ability to teach at this point,”
he said, adding that Case will be handling the
financial reports in the future.
• held a dosed-to-the-public session to dis
cuss personnel and pending litigation. The
council took no action.
Public Hearing On Tax Levy
The council also held the first of three
public hearings on its tax levy for 2016. The
dty plans to maintain a 4.02-mill tax rate that,
because the overall tax digest is down by about
$600,000, will result in the tax levy being about
$2,400 less than last year.
The council will hold two additional public
hearings, one at noon on Friday Aug. 16, and
the other at 6 p.m. on that same date. Both will
be held at the Commerce Civic Center.
No one spoke at the hearing.
Activist files challenge to city
ordinance on distributing leaflets
A Jackson County judge will hear a motion
by Commerce activist Tim Redmond on
Wednesday Sept. 7, challenging a Commerce
ordinance dealing with the distribution of pam
phlets and leaflets.
Redmond, who lives on Troy Street and
attends most dty council meetings, asks the
court to issue an injunction to prohibit the
dty from enforcing the ordinance, which was
passed in the mid-1980s in response to activity
by the Ku Klux Klan. He considers the ordi-
See “Challenge” on Page 3A
Jackson BOC
to address tax
collection fees
Disparity in charges to county,
two city school boards cited
The fee charged by the Jackson County government to
collect property taxes for the various taxing districts in the
county will soon be made uniform.
Jackson County Board of Commissioners Chairman Tom
Crow said Monday night that the county “is working dili
gently” to rectify the differences in how the county collects
those fees.
“It needs to be uniform across the board for everybody,”
Crow said.
The issue came up at a recent meeting of the Jackson
County Board of Education when BOE chairman Michael
Cronic complained to county commissioner Dwayne Smith
that the BOE was being charged 2.5 percent of the total,
about $750,000 per year, while the two city school systems
are only paying around $6,000 each for tax collections based
on a fee of $1.50 per bill.
Crow said Monday night the county doesn’t have a clear
record of when or how the fees were set and that no paper
work exists for the two city school systems’ rates.
This isn’t the first time tax fee collection rates have come
before the BOC. The West Jackson Fire District challenged
its rates several years ago. Crow said Monday night that
See “Tax” on Page 3A
City planners to meet Monday
The Commerce Planning Commission will meet at 6 p.m.
Monday Aug. 22, to consider an amendment to its zoning ordi
nance involving mobile homes and to look over an update to
its zoning map.
The planning commission meets at the Commerce Civic
Center and makes recommendations to the Commerce City
Council on zoning and land use issues.
The proposed amendment is wording from city attorney
John Stell that clarifies that any mobile home currently being
used as a residential dwelling in a district not zoned for mobile
prior to Sept. 1, 2016, can continue to be used as a residence
as long as the property owner keeps up with the requirements
set forth for nonconforming uses.
The map to be considered is an update done by planning
director David Zellner and Jackson County GIS director Joel
Logan.