The Mansfield City Council met on Thursday evening, January 16. One item of unfinished business, the approval of the Sebastian County Dispatch fee.
In a vote of five-to-one, the council voted to approve the fee levied by the county for non-emergency dispatching services. Voting for: Sheri Hopkins, Rick McDaniel, Beverly Lyons, Julie Thomas and Dave Johnson. Voting against, Jan Carlton.
“I cannot vote for this,” stated Carlton, defending her lone vote. Lyons stated, “we’re going to have to do it, although we don’t like it.”
The council voted to pay for six months of services at a time out of the general fund. The annual charge for the city to continue receiving services is $2,257. The non-emergency services include: answering city phone lines, dispatching non-emergency calls, entering property in NCIC/ACIC, validating property in NCIC/ACIC, driver’s license and license plate queries and arrest warrant queries.
March 1 is the deadline for cities across Sebastian County to agree or decline the proposal. In December, Sheriff Hobe Runion notified municipal leaders that partnering cities would see “no change.” However, to those unwilling, they would “need to make other arrangements.”
