Copeland updates council about progress of police body cam research

By JIM BROOKS
Nelson County Gazette / WBRT Radio

Tuesday, Sept. 12, 2016, 10:30 p.m. — With the Bardstown Police Department’s body camera program under suspension by Mayor John Royalty, it was Councilwoman Kecia Copeland who provided the Bardstown City Council with an update on the police department’s research of other body camera technology.

Councilwoman Kecia Copeland updates the council about her discussion about body cameras with acting police chief Capt. McKenzie Mattingly.

Copeland told the council she talked Tuesday with acting city police chief Capt. McKenzie Mattingly about the search for a replacement body camera system. The department is looking at cameras from two potential vendors: TASER International and GoPro, she said.

Mattingly told her they are continuing to evaluate the cameras and their performance as well as anticipated costs, security and the storage needs for the resulting data.

Copeland said Mattingly told her he hoped to have their evaluations completed by the end of November.

City Attorney Tim Butler reminded the council that regardless of the camera system the department prefers, it is still necessary to put the purchase out for competitive bids.

“I hope that whatever they’re doing they are taking what they learn and developing a bid document,” he said.

The council’s safety committee will get first look at the body camera research prior to making a recommendation to the council.

Royalty reminded the council that a replacement body camera system will not be as inexpensive as the body camera system implemented by the city police last year.

TRAVEL POLICY TABLED. A travel and training policy discussed by the council was put on hold after questions were raised about the training and events the policy would govern.

At earlier council meetings, Councilman Fred Hagan had expressed a desire to craft a form policy that would set a reimbursement policy for travel and training for members of the council.

Councilman Fred Hagan discusses the travel policy during Tuesday’s council meeting.

The proposed policy would give each member of the council $1,000 to help reimburse them for travel and lodging expenses for training and conferences related to their service as elected officials.

The policy would require that the requests for reimbursement would be included as part of the council meeting minutes in order to keep a public record of those expenditures.

Councilwoman Kecia Copeland noted the policy specifically included trainings by the Kentucky League of Cities (KLC), and that it has historically been the city’s policy to pay for council members’ expenses to attend the annual KLC conventions. Copeland asked if the new policy would mean the city would no longer pay for the council’s attendance at the KLC convention.

City Clerk Barbie Bryant explained that the city has indeed covered the council’s attendance costs to the annual KLC convention. Trainings outside the annual event are not automatically paid for.

Councilman Bill Buckman told the council he thought that the intent of the policy was to keep members of the council from spending too much of the taxpayers’ money to attend too many trainings.

Copeland told Buckman the trainings are intended to allow elected officials to be better informed, and in that way they better serve their constituents.

“I think everyone should take advantage of the training (the KLC) officers,” she said.

In other business, the council:

— discussed a request from the Bourbon Task Force Sign Committee to amend the city’s sign ordinance in order to increase the number of temporary signs from four to six per year.

The existing ordinance allows city businesses to request up to four temporary sign permits each year, with each sign valid for one week. The request by the task force cited the city’s growth and the increasing number of public events as the basis for their proposal.

None of the council expressed reservations with the proposal. The proposal will return at a future council meeting in the form of an ordinance amendment.

— approved revisions to the city’s alcohol beverage control ordinance that include changes implemented earlier this year by SB 11.

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