Fulton’s police chief says he plans to leave the department

FULTON – In a surprise move during the Nov. 13 Fulton City Council meeting, Police Chief Nick Neblung announced he is in talks to interview with another agency.

Neblung cited four years of stressful duties, understaffing at the agency and concern for his own health as reasons for leaving.

Sgt. Dwayne Hamilton has been recommended as interim police chief if Neblung leaves.

Neblung asked the board to consider raising the part-time wage from $25 an hour to $30 an hour for the officers to match Morrison’s.

“I hope the board learns more one-on-one what the issues are that this community is facing,” Neblung said.

Later, during the meeting, a request was made to approve overtime. Neblung holds a salaried position, but in the past five weeks he has worked 89 hours of overtime over his regular 45 hours because of the police department’s understaffing.

The board was asked to consider reimbursing Neblung for his time and labor beyond the debt obligation.

In other action:

• The committee in charge of naming the Nutracker, following a contest by local school children, narrowed down the list to three possible names. The Nutcracker visited the primary school and public library and 132 entries were submitted to the council. The vote on the name was given to the Council, who will choose the final name, which will be announced at a later date. The child and family with the winning name will have the opportunity to light the tree during the Christmas Walk.

• Jessica Taylor of Simple Grants gave a presentation on grant opportunities for the City of Fulton. Fulton’s submission has now passed a review stage for a $2 million grant, although it has not been accepted at this stage. Simple Grants hopes to send out more grant applications for Fulton as part of their work with the council.

• Gurlabh Singh brought a concern to the board after receiving an email saying he was selling his business, which was an inaccurate statement he wanted to clarify to the board. Another visitor expressed concern about construction on the sidewalk near her home. Their neighbors got road construction. She claimed their neighbors never paid for the resurfacing and her house was never covered by the construction.

According to the city, the construction work was predetermined by an engineer. Any additional construction is the responsibility of the contractors. This was a deal between contractors and owners, Eric Sikkema said.

The Council also:

• discussed the potential for a tour coordinator position and a potential partnership/working relationship with the Iowa tour coordinator. Such a position ties into the ongoing conversation about city government and the funds associated with it.

• discussed the need to reduce the city’s current links. The bond abatement strictly says the city has certain funds to abate non-taxpayer bonds. “When we grant, we have certain funds committed to these payments,” said city employee Tammy Garibay.

• discussed the need for proper oversight of the marina property before any future decisions can be made about the land.