Town discusses regular business

SOUTH FORK— The South Fork Board of Trustees opened their regular monthly meeting on Tuesday, April 25 to honor one of their city employees and work through regular business.
Town Manager Tom Acre explained that the local Police Chief Don McDonald had been given a letter of commendation for his work on a recent sexual assault case that took place in South Fork. The letter was addressed to both Mayor Jerry Hixson and Acre stating that McDonald had gone above and beyond his call of duty to ensure the safety of a child.
The letter began stating, “The purpose of this letter is to commend and recognize the hard work and tenacity of Police Chief Don McDonald with South Fork Police Department regarding investigations into allegations of sexual assault on a child. This investigation resulted in the arrest of three involved individuals. In my opinion, it the chief had not delved into these cold case reports from the past several years, these perpetrators would not have been identified nor prosecuted.”
Acre read the entire letter to the attending crowd and the town board before mentioning that there had recently been a fourth arrest in the case and that law enforcement officials were in the process of arresting the ring leader suspected in the case in another state. Acre continued by stating that he and the board, as well as the town were grateful for the work the chief has done in the past year he has been employed and handed him a bonus for his efforts.
“I know that I am not supposed to say it, but it’s true that we were just doing our jobs in this situation,” stated the chief. The chief posed for pictures with Acre before leaving to a standing ovation.
Other meeting highlights
Hixson spoke to the attending crowd stating that there was a new website up and running for the town and that everyone was invited to go and look at it. “All of our government documents, agendas for meetings and meeting packets are available on the website and we ask that you go and look at everything before the meetings. Our staff reports are read by the staff prior to the meeting and we do not discuss them unless something is brought up by the public or a trustee in order to save some time for our meetings,” explained Hixson. He continued by turning the floor over to Acre to discuss financials for the town.
Acre began by stating that there was a new page in the financial statement that would replace an old page that had the wrong formula plugged in for calculating sales tax revenue. “We found an incorrect formula in the spreadsheet designed to calculate sales tax and have fixed the problem. The financials are about what is to be expected this time of year and we haven’t had to dip into any reserves funds which is good,” finished Acre. Board members voted to adopt the financial statements and moved on to staff reports.
Acre highlighted the work being done on the community building stating that the town would be hiring for a new public works employee and that Nate Goldsberry had been finishing the work on the building alone. “Nate hopes to start finishing the staining of the outside of the building soon, but the weather has not cooperated,” explained Acre. He continued to state that the plan is to still have the building finished by the 25th anniversary celebrations taking place on May 19.