Seneca Holds Work Session And Special Called Council Meeting Tuesday Night

Seneca City Council held a work session and a Special Called Council Meeting last night in Council Chambers. Among the items on the agenda was the approval for the city to enter into a contract with Peachtree Laser, Inc. to conduct the laser show during one evening of the upcoming Seneca Fest 2019 in downtown Seneca. The vote was unanimuous and the money to pay for the laser show will come from Hospitality and Accomodations Taxes. Also, City Administrator Scott Moulder asked the council to consider a change to the police department vehicle policy at their next meeting. Currently, officers who have a take home vehicle and live outside the city limits of Seneca are required to reimburse the city for mileage, which comes out to around $300 total a month. Moulder believes this policy needs to be done away with. 

Moulder said last night that societal studies show a benefit for officers and the communities they live in in regards to take home vehicles home in regards to safer neighborhoods and as a deterrent to crime and that is true regardless of where they live. Moulder does not believe that this policy is a fair application of this rules in regards to applying just to those officers and if the policy was implemented, it should have done city wide. Moulder also believes that the change in the policy will help with officer retention and recruitment considering that the pool of applicants for police officers is fewer than times in the past and that is true around the country. 

City council also went into executive session to discuss a personnel matter involving the Seneca Police Department. After a few minutes, Council came back into chambers and voted unanimously to allow a Seneca Police officer that has health problems to have 30 days of pay from the city’s sick pool account where time has been donated by employees for those in need. Moulder said the officer would have to use remaining vacation time before they would be eligible for the thirty days of sick time and then there will be an evaluation afterwards.