Cordell Mayor Jerry Beech took a moment during Monday’s city council meeting to discuss his new, more aggressive, posture toward dealing with issues facing the city. The new approach, he said, will include things that he anticipates will leave some Cordell residents “not overly thrilled,” but need to be addressed quickly.
Beech said that both during the campaign and since he’s assumed the mayor’s office, he has been approached by several Cordell residents who have mentioned concerns with water quality, electrical service, the sewer lagoon, and the overall cleanliness and appearance of the town. It is his intent, he said, to start pushing new solutions to these issues, starting with the enforcement of city codes and ordinances. To that end, the city’s recently appointed code enforcement officer, Christie Cherry, who just completed her training and certification, was sworn in during the meeting. Beech called upon members of the council to support Cherry in her efforts to address code violations. Those efforts have resulted in several ordinance violation tickets in recent weeks.
Beech also asked the council to approve a $1 per hour raise in the city’s police pay scale in an effort to make Cordell more competitive with other cities and towns in the area. Beech said the city and the police department have been searching for a new police officer for Cordell, but have been unsuccessful due to the low pay. The pay increase, he said, should be covered by the excess money left in the department’s budget due to being one officer short for the past six months, as well as by reducing the overtime costs of the current officers.
The last item Beech addressed was maintenance and repair of city property and buildings. He said the city has been lax in the past, putting off necessary repairs due to budget issues. Those delays, he said, are now costing the city much more in repairs than the maintenance would have cost before the problems became more severe. Several members of the council agreed with Beech in support of addressing maintenance and repair issues in a quicker and more efficient manner.
The council also voted to alter their meeting schedule, beginning in January 2020. The council will, moving forward, meet just once per month on the third Monday at 7:00 p.m.