Brownsboro Police department renovations now complete
By Nathan Straus News Reporter

The Brownsboro police department and municipal court went under the hammer after the city approved a renovation proposal Thursday, October 11. The change was to move offices around so those passing into the court would not be able to come up behind the office secretary.

Ron Shields, Brownsboro police chief, said he is moving the station clerk to where his office is located, and he will be moving his office closer to the municipal court.

"We're changing the location of the court to provide better security," Shields said.

The renovations will also see a half-window added.

Changes to the court and police department structure weren't the only additions. The city also approved the hiring of an additional clerk because, Shields said, the current work load proved too much for one person. The new clerk will work at $7 per hour. The new clerk started work Tuesday, October 16.

Brownsboro also saw fit to reappoint Municipal Judge Susan Carver for two more years.

"She does an outstanding job," Shields said. "She's been with us for nine years."

The city council meeting also saw to the approval of a trio of ordinances.

The garage sale ordinance, put on hold last month, was passed with a clarification change. The time span limiting the number of garage sales households can host has been defined as the first of January to the last of December; a given household can't have more than three garage sales within this time frame. This clarification wasn't present in the original ordinance.

Under the ordinance, any person or household could not have more than three garage sales per year, and the sales could last no longer than four consecutive days between sunrise and sunset. In order to get a rain check, the City of Brownsboro will have to be notified within one business day of the cancelled sale.

As stated in the written ordinance, sales can't create a disturbance in the neighborhood, and a permit will be required.

The permit costs $5.

The city will provide one free sign to be placed at the location of the sale once the permit has been bought. Additional signs can be bought at $2.50 each, but the limit is four signs total, including the first.

Several other points about garage sales were included in the ordinance paperwork. Signs must be posted within 24 hours of the sale, and removed within three days after, and are to be posted on private property only. Permits will be sold from 7:30 am to noon, then from 1 pm to 4:30 pm on Monday through Friday.

Violations of the ordinance carry a penalty of $25-$200.

Shields said the two other ordinances passed, the court security ordinance and the ordinance for technology, added extra fees for citations.

"If we write someone a citation, we charge them $4 extra for technology," Shields said. "This is because it costs us $1,100 a year to be tied to the Department of Public Safety system."

The final ordinance passed saw an additional $3 charge for court security.

The result is each citation will have an extra $7 total from the ordinances.