Kingston Town Council had an executive session during its regular meeting March 12 to discuss possible action against Police Chief Kasey Cox.
The agenda items listed for executive session included taking action on Cox’s previous write up and disciplinary action for him.
No action was taken on the prior write up for Cox and the council voted for Danny Southerland and Theodor Ponder to investigate the situation as to disciplinary action. It was not discussed what the investigation into Cox is for.
Cox was named police chief of Kingston in July 2022 and he had previously been a sergeant with the department.
In other action during the meeting, the council appointed Katie Sanderson, Alexis Park, Bryan Baxter, Sherri Denton and Donna Bearden to the Kingston Planning Commission.
These are three-year terms and the commission will advise and make recommendations to the council on planning and zoning. Any recommendations will have to be approved by the council, and it was mentioned that the town’s planning commission had not been active for years.
The council approved having monthly supervisor meetings on the first Wednesday of the month as a way for city supervisors to improve communication with each other. Employees are also welcome to attend.
Council members voted to purchase new carpet for the clerk’s office at a cost of about $4,500 that includes floor replacement and installation. The work would be done on a weekend and a prior town council had already approved this.
Council members voted to change bill paying service from Payment Service Network to Nextbill Pay. Clerk/treasurer Michelle Bearden said there are problems with the current company’s website and it is not available half of the time. There is no cost to set up the service with Nextbill Pay and there is a $2.75 charge for customer fees and the town will make money from this convenience fee.
Also approved was the purchase of Quick PD court reporting software that will cost $99 per month with no fee for the first six months. Council members voted to move forward with using Lexipol for a town policy update. Lexipol is a company that provides policy manuals for public safety agencies such as police and fire departments. The cost with the program will be $4,995.05.
“I’m a firm believer we need to do this,” said council member Danny Southerland.
The council voted against purchasing Verizon asset tracking that would track the locations of city owned vehicles. Southerland said a city vehicle has never been stolen and if there is a thought that a city employee is not doing his job while in a city vehicle, then a supervisor should be notified.
Action was tabled on the way the town plans to apply for a water project grant. Last month, the council voted to apply for a $600,000 CDBG - Water/wastewater grant which will be written by the Southern Oklahoma Development Association. It would be used to repair well and water lines.
During last week’s meeting, it was brought up that SODA recommends applying for a U.S. Economic Development Administration (EDA) grant. SODA would still write the grant and the council will be investigating this further.
A suggestion to purchase a vending machine for town hall was tabled. There is currently a vending machine from Coke and the town does not receive any of the revenue and the council plans to contact a local vending machine company that provides the machine, and the town would get a percentage of sales.