Burgin Council Agrees To Hire Part-time Police Officer

Last Tuesday night’s meeting of the Burgin City Council was a marathon even by Burgin’s standards: three solid hours of arguments, countercharges and recriminations.

Despite all the drama, the council acted on several issues that, in some cases, have been the subject of months of debate in the friendly little city. They agreed to advertise for a part-time police officer, they agreed to donate $10,000 towards building a special needs playground and they awarded the bid to connect city hall to Burgin’s new sewer system.

The city agreed to advertise for a part-time police officer to fill in for Police Chief Casey Rucker. The officer will work 20 hours a week.

Deputies from the Mercer County Sheriff’s Office respond to calls when Rucker is unavailable, but it can sometimes take a while for them to get to Burgin from across the county.

“It took an hour and a half,” said James Dunn, discussing a recent call he’d made.

However, Councilwoman Katrina Sexton moved to table the discussion again, saying, while there was money set aside in the budget to hire a second police officer, the city still did not have the equipment.

One citizen, Jim Scott, objected to not hiring the police officer immediately.

“How can I sit here and witness you people give away $10,000 for some toys,” Scott said, referring to the city’s donation to the playground. “I don’t get that.”

“I’m not trying to put it off,” Sexton said. “We do not have everything they need.”

However, when Rucker offered to leave the police cruiser at the office for the part-time officer to use, Sexton withdrew her motion and the council voted unanimously to begin advertising for the position.

To learn more, check out this week’s issue of the Harrodsburg Herald.