Manderson council tables e-citation system police request

Police in Manderson continue to push the council for an e-citation system, saying it would be more time effective and accurate.  As Chief Brandon Kidgell had done previously, Officer Jeff Neal made the pitch for the system at a recent meeting.
Councilwoman Julie Williams asked if this system would also be more efficient for the court clerk? Reasoner stated yes. The cost for the system would be approximately $20,000.
Councilman Tim Patrick said while he supports an e-citation system, he is not ready to move forward. “The reason I’m not ready to move on it is we basically got $346,576.81 in total income. Our fiscal year budget is $401,700. With everything I totaled up right now, we will have a deficit of $55,123.19. That is to-date today. What that means is that in the next four months when the fiscal year ends, to break even, with the average ticket of $150, we would need 92 tickets more.”
He continued that he doesn’t see that as an issue because May is coming and that is typically when traffic increases. Figuring $20,000 for the new system and the average ticket at $150 he wondered about an additional 133 tickets to pay for the system.
Council woman Julie Williams said she believes the expenditures for the police department were not in the $400,000 range; rather they were less than $300,000.
Councilman Patrick asked Reasoner if $300,000 was about right for payroll. Reasoner responded she believes that number is extremely high.
Mayor Patrick suggested that the issue be tabled until a special meeting sometime this month. This would give time to gather up more information regarding the police budget/expenditures.
Williams expressed concern about waiting as it will take the PD a few months to purchase and put the new system into play. She thinks it is important to have it in place before the busy traffic season. Reasoner noted that if the system isn’t in place in April, it will have to be put on hold until November.  
Councilwoman Judy Bury said she was against getting the new system at this time. Councilman Troy Chambers said he would like to get the system but had concerns about whether the town could afford it.
Williams noted that the building out of the PD offices was expensive last year and the town will not have the expense this year.
The request was tabled.
 OTHER BUSINESS
• Court clerk Janet Reasoner gave the court report. She told the council that there have been a few unauthorized attempts to login to the Manderson Police Department site. She suggested the town buy software that would provide additional security. The town approved the purchase.
• Councilman Patrick gave the maintenance report. The town will be advertising for this position. Patrick said the sewer plant is running fine and there have been no waterline leaks. He added he attended the Wyoming Association of Municipalities (WAM) conference in Cheyenne. He reported that $20 million was added to the ARPA (American Rescue Plan Act) by the Wyoming House for infrastructure.  He would follow up to see if it passed the Wyoming Senate. (The bill did not pass.)  
He will also follow up to see if the Senate passed the House’s recommendation of $145 million for direct distribution to the counties and municipalities. (It did pass for $145.25 million.)
• An ad will run in the local paper for a maintenance person.
• A building permit was reviewed and approved for Mike Burrington.