Citizens argued on Sept. 1 over whether the aldermen should repeal Ordinance No. 300, which calls for the appointment of an assistant city marshal.

Resident Jackie Hunt presented the Cuba Police Department policy manual to the board as an argument for not repealing the ordinance, which requires the appointment of an assistant city marshal.

“It was actually approved by the then board of aldermen on June 15, 1998,” Hunt said. “Regarding social media, all personnel are prohibited from posting any comments, pictures, video or audio while on duty unless it is related to an investigation in which a supervisor has knowledge and has approved.”

Hunt recalled a recent incident involving an unnamed officer and social media, and said the video humiliated, taunted and was cruel to the resident who was featured in it, while adding that the officer is still employed with the Cuba Police Department.

“I think we can fairly infer and even conclude that the chief of police is either not making officers familiar with the handbook, or just isn’t bothering to enforce it,” Hunt said.

In repealing the ordinance, Hunt concluded that the aldermen and mayor are relinquishing their ability to monitor the activities and members of the police department.

Resident Dan Eidson responded to Hunt’s comments.

“If anybody had done their homework, she would have realized that the officer she was talking about was pretty heavy in the TikTok and social media and whatnot, and he got reigned back quite a bit by his boss for doing that,” Eidson said.

While he does not condone the officer’s actions, he reiterated his comment made during the Aug. 18 meeting, which was that if the aldermen don’t agree with how Shelton runs the police department, then they need to run it themselves or groom somebody else for the position.

“We’re not going to give the mayor a backdoor access to try to control what’s going on in there with social media and whatever not,” Eidson said.

A motion to repeal Ordinance No. 300 was approved with a 6-0 vote.

The board also readdressed the problem that issues were found in the software the city uses for its finances. It was previously brought up by Alderman Ward 3 Jeff Bouse during the Aug. 18 meeting.

“I was made aware of a computer issue that we had with our software program, and it wasn’t allowing, what I was told, it wasn’t allowing, when we pay bills, it wasn’t subtracting that from our bank account,” Bouse said.

Mayor Pitts Lesesne said that it slowed down completing the Fiscal Year 2025 audit, and Staff Accountant and Bookkeeper Jennifer Basham explained that the problem occurred when the software upgraded.

Two software companies, BS&A Software and Tyler Technologies, have been considered to replace gWorks, the city’s current software provider. Lesesne mentioned that they are waiting for the completion of the audits and must be cautious about timing a switch if it is approved, as the transition to the new software will take approximately 10 months to a year.

“One of those companies does not want to do in-house training; they want to do remote training, and from what I’m reading on the internet, that has not been good,” Lesesne said. “So the other one…will not do remote training. They prefer not to because they feel like the training is a little better if they do it in-house.”

In other business, Bill No. 2236, which authorizes the mayor to enter into an agreement with J. Oros Environmental Incorporated for the hauling and disposal of bio solid material, became Special Ordinance 976 after a motion to accept it was approved with a 6-0 vote.