Tag Archive for: #cityofhenderson

TownTalk: Henderson Police Considering Installation Of License Plate Readers

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Update 9:45 p.m. Monday:

The Henderson City Council unanimously approved, with two council people absent, both measures presented in more detail in the original noon news update listed below.

With those votes of approval, each sworn Henderson Police officer will receive $6,456 more in base salary except for exempt staff like captains, assistant chief positions and HPD Chief Marcus Barrow.  It sounded like from what City Manager Terrell Blackmon said during the meeting, those command positions would soon also receive a comparable increase and that it may be the same amount of $6,456.  In addition, the funding equivalent of the annual pay and benefits of one police officer, which is already funded but an unfilled position, will be used to implement the License Plate Readers.

Barrow said in the meeting that his patrol and investigation divisions need the most help right now.  He said the LPRs would help in both those areas and thus the whole police department.

The LPRs are electronic data, and Barrow said it was electronic data that led to the arrest of the three suspects in the recent Gholson Avenue homicides.

Chief Barrow provided a few additional facts the public may like to hear as well.

He said, “They are visible.  They are not hidden from the public.  They are motion sensitive.  They are not constantly recording.  They are identical to what is used at the toll booths.  This is not for speeding.  It will not take pictures of people, just motor vehicles.  This is the least invasive.”

He said to be fair the placement of the devices would be totally data driven.

Original Update Noon Monday:

The Henderson City Council is expected to act tonight on a couple of requests aimed at giving local law enforcement officers more money in their pockets and an additional tool to help them in their job of keeping the city safe.

The police department is allotted 52 sworn law enforcement positions, but it currently has about a dozen vacancies. In two separate requests spelled out in tonight’s agenda information packet, Chief Marcus Barrow wants to take the equivalent of one police officer’s salary – $66,000 – and use it to place throughout the city 25 camera-like devices that can read license plates.

Barrow, along with city staff, want to take some of that unused money from the salary pot and put it to work to help the current officers who patrol the city’s streets and neighborhoods.

The license plate readers, or LPRs, are small and only weigh about 3 pounds but they can have a powerful impact. Police can enter license plate information into the system and the LPR will “look” for matching tags. Whether it’s a stolen vehicle or a vehicle associated in other criminal activity, the LPR can help police narrow down searches.

Flock Safety will provide 25 license plate readers for the police department to use, and will in essence, take the place of one law enforcement officer.

Numerous nearby municipalities are already using Flock Safety or have contracted with them for deployment in the near future. Local law enforcement is in constant contact with those agencies to help solve crimes that travel through various jurisdictions.

“Filling positions has become increasingly difficult, and law enforcement agencies across the nation are seeking alternative solutions to supplement their shortages with technology and tools to assist their workforce,” states information from the council’s agenda packet.

But additional technology isn’t the only thing that Barrow is asking council members to consider: He wants them to bump up the salaries of current sworn officers by more than $6,000 to make the base pay more competitive with nearby agencies.

The city raised the base pay a couple of years ago, and Barrow said that helped retention rates tremendously. But now, surrounding agencies are upping their game and implementing pay adjustments of their own.

“We are just past the midterm of our fiscal year and anticipate a $400,000 to $500,000 surplus in our approved salaries, wages and benefits. With most agencies in the Wake County area at a $50,000 starting salary, and comparable sized agencies at or near this mark, it is necessary that we develop a salary adjustment that will align with the market trend to help with officer retention and recruitment,” as stated by Barrow and other city staff in information included in the agenda packet.

The salary adjustment of $6,456 for each sworn employee would bring the hiring salary for an entry-level sworn officer to $48,959 – just shy of Wake County agencies, but more in line with neighboring counties’ pay rates.

“If nothing is done, we expect shortages to continue and retention efforts to dwindle as competing agencies further the gap,” according to the agenda information.

If implemented this month, March 2023, the total cost, including benefits but not including the pending retirement of a lieutenant in March or April, is approximately $102,000. In FY 23-24, the total increase would be $315,000 in the Salary/Wage line item.

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Excellence in Financial Reporting to City of Henderson, NC

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The Government Finance Officers Association of the United States and Canada has awarded the Certificate of Achievement for Excellence in Financial Reporting to the City of Henderson, NC.

Congratulations to Finance Director Joey Fuqua and the City staff including City Manager Terrell Blackmon.

The City’s annual comprehensive financial report for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2021 was judged by an impartial panel and found to meet the high standards of the program.

The recognition comes primarily because the financial report demonstrated “a constructive spirit of full disclosure to clearly communicate its financial story and motivate potential users and user groups to read the report,” according to a press release from the GFOA.

This represents the highest form of recognition in the area of governmental accounting and financial reporting.

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Kimbrell Appointed To Serve As City Clerk

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The Henderson City Council officially appointed Tracey Kimbrell to the position of clerk to the board at its meeting Monday.

Kimbrell has served as interim clerk to the board since November, after previous clerk Esther McCrackin retired in late October.

John C. Rose and Bill Harris spoke with Kimbrell by phone earlier today and they reported she sounded enthusiastic about her new role.

In addition to her service to the city council, she will report to City Manager Terrell Blackmon for the day-to-day duties, just as other department directors. In a resolution approved by the Council, Kimbrell will serve at the pleasure of the Council for an indefinite term.

According to the agenda information, the city conducted a search for qualified candidates to fill the position and determined that Kimbrell was the most qualified.

Although it wasn’t something that she necessarily planned for, she said this was an opportunity she didn’t want to pass up.

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TownTalk: Andy Perkinson Reflects On Public Works Service

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Growing up, Andy Perkinson watched his daddy work tobacco. By watching, and working, he developed a strong work ethic. But he also listened to his father, who told him to find a job that had some benefits and some retirement.

“I listened to him,” Perkinson told John C. Rose on Monday’s TownTalk. “I’m grateful that I did.”

Perkinson, who turns 51 next month, recently retired from a career with the City of Henderson.

He started out in 1993 as a maintenance worker. But when he officially retired on Jan. 1, held the position of public works director.

“The city was good to me,” Perkinson said, but added that he felt he also was good to the city. “Whatever I did, I did it with my whole heart,” he said.

City employees are responsible for everything from maintaining city cemeteries to fixing broken water mains, with lots of other things in between.

All the city’s department heads have great responsibilities, he said, it’s the public works director that responds to calls for service from everywhere.

A city’s public works director has got “everybody to worry about – police, fire, recreation,” Perkinson said.

The utilities and public works groups were combined under previous city manager Frank Frazier, which Perkinson said was a way to get employees cross-trained so they could multi-task or fill in where needed.

Whether dealing with a water main break or other problem that is going to result in an interruption of service, Perkinson said often the actual repair was the easy part.

“The repair isn’t the hard part,” he said. “It’s getting to it.”

Placing a call to 811 is a critical step to knowing where all the other utility lines are located. Having the right inventory in the warehouse is another key component to timely restoration of the service.

“If we didn’t have it in the warehouse and couldn’t fix it, it means people would be without service for an extended time,” Perkinson said.

Handling administrative tasks as public works director probably wasn’t tops on Perkinson’s list of things to do, but he did them, and credited the city staff for incredible support while he was learning the role.

Mayor Eddie Ellington reflected on Perkinson’s time with the city.

“I tell you, we already miss him,” Ellington said in a recent interview with WIZS News. “Andy was a guy (who) would delegate, but he would also get his hands dirty,” the mayor said.

Ellington said he happened to stop by the site of a city repair crew and asked where Perkinson was. “He pops up out of the ditch and says ‘I’m right here,’” Ellington said with a chuckle.

 

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The Local Skinny! City Of Henderson Financial Health

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The city of Henderson is in pretty good financial shape, according to a recent report presented by the auditor who completed the annual comprehensive study.

Bryon Scott delivered the positive news to City Council members during its November meeting, and he said the only bit of information that concerned him was uncollected taxes.

In the fiscal year ending June 2022, the city’s uncollected taxes were just more than 3 percent, according to minutes from the city council meeting. When that 3 percent threshold is passed, it triggers the state to require a letter stating the reason for going over the 3 percent mark.

Mayor Eddie Ellington thanked Finance Director Joey Fuqua and the finance department staff for all their hard work in helping with the audit process.

Council Member Mike Rainey moved the approval of the report, seconded by Council Member Ola Thorpe-Cooper. The vote to approve was unanimous.

Highlights of the report:

  • The five-year trend for the total fund balance is about $12.3 million. Of that amount, in 2022, the unavailable fund balance was roughly $3.2 million in 2022, up from $2.4 million in 2018.
  • The city’s General Fund available fund balance is about 55 percent of General Fund expenditures.
  • Regional Water System fund has the largest cash balance followed by the General Fund.  Regional Water also had largest fund balance.
  • The city’s tax collection percentage rate is 97.57 percent.  The city’s largest debt type is business debt.  The remaining 16% of debt is governmental.  Ad Valorem taxes is the City’s largest revenue, with the second-largest revenue being intergovernmental (distributions from the state). Tax from sales and services is third.
  • Public Safety is the largest General Fund expenditure, followed by transportation.  The third-largest expenditure is Recreation and Parks.

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TownTalk: Signs of Positive Growth

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King’s Daughters Park is not the largest park in the area, and it doesn’t have all the amenities as other recreation areas, but what it does have is what is known in the real estate world as a critical asset: Location, location, location.

City officials are looking at ways to increase the park’s boundaries as plans continue to progress for the West End Urban Redevelopment Area (URA).

The Henderson City Council approved a recommendation from city staff to acquire three vacant properties near the park that, if successful, would add to the overall footprint of the park, located on Montgomery Street. Having access to green space promotes public health while preserving the characteristics of the park.

“We’ve got some negotiating to do,” City Manager Terrell Blackmon told WIZS News Tuesday. But the council gave staff permission to move forward to try to buy the vacant properties and refurbish the park as part of the overall redevelopment plan, Blackmon explained.

One of the three property owners has been contacted, but Blackmon said the city is still in the process of contacting the other two.

As plans for the West End URA continue to take shape, the idea is to bring a mixture of rental homes and private residences to the area, while developing business and recreation opportunities within walking distance of where people live.

The URA and other opportunities for redevelopment are part of the city’s overall strategic plan, as well as employee retention.

Blackmon said succession planning plays a role in recruiting and retaining city employees, and it’s one of the points contained in the strategic plan.

The city also approved a new entry-level planning technician position in the development services division, made necessary when the current zoning administrator was promoted to the vacant position of community development manager.

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The Local Skinny! City Council Making City Employment More Attractive

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Good news for current and future employees of the city of Henderson: The Henderson City Council adopted a city-wide minimum hourly rate of $15 per hour for all employees at its Nov. 14 meeting,

City Manager Terrell Blackmon made the request, which is in line with the most recent strategic plan strategies to attract and retain city workers.

According to information from the meeting agenda, 19 out of the city’s 200 employees currently earn less than $15 an hour, but the council’s adoption of the $15/hour rate changes that. It will cost an extra $1,173.47 per pay period – $30,510.18 a year – to make this change.

In his recommendation to the council, Blackmon stated that it was necessary “due to increasing wages and the competitive hiring environment in Vance County and the surrounding area.”

New employees will receive an hourly rate of not less than $15 per hour, and existing employees’ pay will be adjusted to reflect the pay raise. Employees hired before July 1, 2022 will have their salaries adjusted upon completion of their probationary period, he explained.

In other action from the council, city employees will get a bump in their pay if they are called back in to work. This changes will cost the city about $48,300 annually.

This “call-back” pay is for employees who are scheduled to be on call throughout the year. Blackmon proposed, and the council adopted, that the number of hours change to ten hours, up from two hours’ guaranteed pay for being called back to work outside of normal working hours.

Employees would receive 10 hours for being on-call plus time worked as already outlined in the existing policy. The city currently has three employees, usually one primary (Crew Leader) and two secondaries, on-call at all times. Each employee will be on-call five or six times a year.

 

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Henderson City Clerk Retiring After 12 Years

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Henderson City Clerk Esther McCrackin is retiring effective Monday, Oct. 31 after 12 years of service to the city in that role.

Mayor Eddie Ellington called her a “mother figure” to all who work at City Hall who, with “grit and grace” showed her passion for the city. She kept everyone on the right track, “sometimes being tough but always from the heart, never losing sight of the ‘mission at hand,’” he said.

Ellington reflected on the first day he met McCrackin. “I knew right away her devotion and the expectations of me,” he said in a statement to WIZS News Monday. “Back in 2015, coming in as a new mayor of the city and still to this day being no different, she has always been a voice of reason, offering encouragement and guidance, while keeping the wheels turning. She was the calm in many storms and in times of much needed support. She believed in me and reminded me not to govern on emotion but by policy and procedure,” he said.

Now, seven years later, Ellington said McCrackin is “a remarkable lady and I owe a tremendous debt of gratitude to her.”

City Manager Terrell Blackmon said Monday that McCrackin was a valuable staff member. “I was honored to work with her my first three years here as manager,” Blackmon said in an email.

Blackmon said since the clerk is appointed by the City Council, he has been directed by the mayor and council to advertise the position for 30 days to both internal and external candidates. “After the job closing date, the HR director and I will vet those applications and make recommendations of two to three finalists that the council will interview and then ultimately make an appointment,” Blackmon explained.

Discolored Water? Simple Fix For City Customers

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 – Courtesy of the City of Henderson:

City crews have repaired a water leak on Ruin Creek Road which may result in some households and businesses experiencing a discoloration of water from taps and spigots.

According to information Monday from the City of Henderson, simply allowing the water to run for a period should clear up any discoloration.

If this does not correct the problem, city water customers should call 252.431.6030 to make a report.

For more information, contact the Public Services Department at 252.431.6030.