City of Greenfield appoints Danny Smith as Police Chief

Story by Shannon Taylor Senior Investigative Reporter

New Police Chief Appointed

Greenfield Mayor Cindy McAdams called Assistant Police Chief Danny Smith to the podium and told the board, “I would like to appoint Danny Smith as our next Police Chief.” A motion was made and passed 6-0. McAdams said, “You’re looking at our next Police Chief. We’re glad to have you on board and Danny and I have sat down and talked, and I know he’s going to do a great job. He’s great for our community. He’s always lived here, and he wants to do the best of his ability and I know he’ll do great. He’ll do a great job and we’re glad to have you on board. So, you know who to call now.”

Smith responded and said, “I’ve worked for the city over 30 years. 29 years ago, to this day was my first day as a police officer so turn arounds fair play and now, I’m Chief of Police so thank you all.”

McAdams said, “I’m glad your family is here, and I know they’re proud of you.”

Citizens Input

Former alderman Frank Gibson came forward regarding the Senior Citizens Center and stated, “The senior citizens would like to thank the city for renovating the men’s room down at the park. The thing that we don’t understand is why it’s being paid for out of United Way funds?”

Gibson went on to say that United Way money was donated to the seniors as discretionary income, and they had a list of things it could be used for. “Improvements to the city park, to the building, and paying monthly utility bills and so forth are not on that list so is there a reason that that money is paying for that?”

McAdams said, “Yes sir, I decided that. I talked to Jerica about it. The money was there.”

Gibson said, “The money was there but that isn’t what the money could be used for.”

McAdams responded that it could be used for that and that she checked into all of that before doing it.

Gibson said that he was a member of the United Way Board for 34 years in funds distribution and “you and I sat in when that money was allocated with the funds distribution committee and after we had that meeting and told them what we wanted to use the money for we documented it and that email has gone out to all of the board members and it’s gone to you several times every time we have this discussion.”

McAdams denied having any knowledge of the email.

City Attorney Beau Pemberton stepped in and said, “the most prudent thing to do is to set up a time for you and the mayor and Jerica Spikes our city recorder to sit down and review what the policy says and if the mayor has that ability then we can go back and everyone can take a look at the records and make sure we’re getting a clear answer because I was not a part of this discussion, but I think in the interest of all concerned that would be the best approach.”

Taxes

McAdams said that local sales tax was $34,936.34 and that was up $3,390.95 from the previous month. The state tax was $19,889.43 and was down by $144.68 from the previous month. A motion was made to pay bills and passed unanimously.

Department Head Reports

Fire Department Chief Bob Dudley said, “we were awarded $65,385 from the governors special fund for firefighting equipment-we applied for 19 sets of turnout gear from head to toe.” Dudley said they weren’t out one penny, and the bids will be open Feb. 21. Dudley said that he is also in the process of hiring 10 new people and there’s enough money in the funds to buy gear for them. A motion was made to go through with that and was passed unanimously. Dudley said that the men were wanting to buy the old gear for the amount of $100 apiece. The board authorized this with a motion that passed unanimously. Dudley also said they had some fans that they want to replace with battery powered fans and the cost would be $14,400 and they have $10,000 in their AFG line item and they would like to take that money and $4,500 from the rural fire funds to put together to buy those fans. Three of the old fans would need to be sold. The board voted unanimously to approve this.

Director of Water, Sewer and Street Department Robert Rodriguez said that “the state has called, and we had an inspection on our 100,000-gallon clear well. They want us to drain it, clean it, inspect it really good and to do that you have to put a bypass line in and the chemical lines. They have put bids out for it and it was between 13 and 15,000. That is available for repair and maintenance, so it won’t cost any extra. When that’s done then we have to rehab it.”  The cost for rehab won’t be determined until the first part of the process is completed.

Director of Parks and Recreation Chris Fulcher said that the Pee Wee Basketball Program is up and going. This is the first time this program has started up since COVID hit so Fulcher said they are all really excited to have that up and going and there’s been a great turnout. Baseball and softball signups are up. They started on Feb. 6 and they will run through Feb. 28. Practices should start the first week of March. They are going to start new sponsorships signs at the park and will be contacting sponsors soon. Anyone wanting to sponsor a sign should contact City Hall. Fulcher said that he needs a portable building to store a new machine that was purchased last year. The quotes he has received for a 10×12 building are $5,185 and $5,450. Fulcher has the money in the budget and asked permission to use that money. The board voted and unanimously approved it for using $5,500 and any money left over would be appropriated back into the fund.

Director of the Senior Citizens Center Maryland Pew said that the sign is missing that goes up in front of the old city hall and asked if anyone sees it to let someone know.

Pemberton spoke regarding delinquent taxes. The 2020 delinquent taxes will be filed in April with the sales in October.

The next board meeting will be Tuesday, March 14 at City Hall. Friday April 7 they will have their Easter Egg Hunt at the park from 10-1. The budget meetings will start March 16 from 4:15-6.