The school resource officer position at Falkville schools remains open, despite efforts to find a replacement for Seth Sullivan, who resigned prior to the current school term.

“We don’t have any applicants at this time,” Police Chief Aaron Burgess reported to town officials at a work session Sept. 30. “We had one person who inquired about the job but was not interested when he learned it was not a full-time officer position and didn’t include benefits.” 

In the meantime, Burgess said, the police department is assigning school security duty to one of its officers on a rotating basis. 

The salary for the position is split between Falkville and the Morgan County Board of Education, with the school board paying $20,000 annually. 

Following a discussion, the council agreed to re-advertise for a full-time police officer  

to fill the vacancy and discuss the matter again at the next monthly work session.

“Before we hire another full-time (SRO), I recommend we draft a job description to define his or her responsibilities,” said Mayor Ken Winkles. 

Burgess’ 90-day probationary period was extended 90 days to allow the police department’s workload to resume a normal level of responsibility.  

In other work session topics, Councilman Patrick Holmes expressed concern about the sale of vape products at Falkville businesses. 

Burgess said his department is aware such products are readily available locally, but their contents meet legal requirements. 

“The thing is, they get in the hands of kids,” Holmes pointed out. “This has bothered me for awhile.” 

Agenda items discussed for consideration at the next regular council meeting included:

• Consider surplus declaration for miscellaneous library books, DVDs and in-car camera systems
• Renewal of PD Lexipol software at a cost of $3,695
• Abatement of demolition costs at 94 Clark Street at a cost of $11,042,43