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Resident presses council on plan for city police department; mayor schedules town hall and website updates
Summary
Resident Curtis Helton asked whether citizens were involved in the city's research into creating a Lucas police department, questioned staffing and budget assumptions and urged a referendum; the mayor said the city will post research materials on the new website and will hold a town hall in January or February to address specifics and take public input.
At the start of the Nov. 6 Lucas City Council meeting, resident Curtis Helton urged the council to disclose public research and include citizen input on a potential switch from a contracted sheriff’s department to a city police department.
Helton said he "couldn't find" the staff research or budget analyses referenced in council materials, questioned claims about improved response times with a proposed six-person department and raised liability concerns should a city officer be involved in a crash, misconduct or other incident. He suggested that a department consuming "10 to 30% of the city budget" should be subject to a referendum or ballot measure.
The mayor responded that the city’s new website will include a section with documents and that staff will hold a town hall in January or February to present specifics and answer resident questions. "We'll be able to lay out all the specifics of every single thing that you just asked," the mayor said, pointing to the town hall as the forum for detailed answers.
Council and staff emphasized that the research is ongoing; the mayor and staff encouraged residents to review materials once posted and to attend the scheduled town hall for deeper discussion.
