Lieutenant Brandon Blackman 
Sergeant Jesse Hall
At Monday night’s Monmouth City Council meeting, Mayor Rod Davies announced the promotion of Sergeant Brandon Blackman to Lieutenant, and Patrol Officer Jesse Hall to Sergeant.
Lieutenant Blackman and Sergeant Hall have a combined 33 years of service to the Monmouth Police Department.
In addition to the promotions of Lieutenant Blackman and Sergeant Hall, Police Chief Joe Switzer said the department tested five candidates to establish an eligibility list for police officer. Of the five candidates, only two were able to pass the physical agility test and the written test.
Meanwhile, Fire Chief Casey Rexroat’s report highlighted recent training for medical emergencies, in particular, those involving diabetics. Communications Director Ken Helms explains:
In other news from Council, the Cemetery Board submitted a proposal to raise fees on full-body interments from $600 to $925 during the week, and from $700 to $1,025 on Saturdays. The board also proposed raising fees on the burial of ashes from $250 to $450 during the week, and from $300 to $550 on Saturdays.
Mayor Rod Davies said the new fee schedule will align the Monmouth Cemetery fees more closely with those of surrounding cemeteries.
“(The fee changes) will help us cover increased costs with weekend burials,” Davies said. “Those require overtime, as do the contracts with the interment services.”
M-R High School parking lot reconstruction: For many years the City of Monmouth has been trying to eliminate surface water from entering its sewer system, and at the same time reduce the overall amount of storm water that needs to treated.
City Administrator Lew Steinbrecher said proceeds from a state infrastructure grant will help to upgrade and reconstruct the high school parking lot.
“It will result in the creation of some surface water detention tanks, to retain water on site,” Steinbrecher said, “as well as some vegetative swales that will take a lot of the surface water that currently drains into the sewer system and absorb the water. Any excess water can be stored and released at a later date.”
Council subsequently approved an agreement with its consultant, Woodard and Curran, for engineering and project management costs related to the reconstruction.
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