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Beulaville Police Chief Jamie Rogers took a rare step into the limelight at the town board meeting on Jan. 8. Rogers is set to retire Feb. 29, or as Town Manager Lori Williams puts it, be “reclassified” and remain with the town of Beulaville, in a more limited capacity.
“Although he is retiring, as I’ve told a lot of folks, he’s just being reclassified,” Williams said during the meeting. “We’re not letting him go anywhere too far. He may have to share an office with me, but he’s going to stay around.”
Williams asked the Board of Commissioners for a recess during the regular monthly meeting last Monday, saying she had to make a presentation. She left the meeting room for a few minutes, returning with Rogers’ family members and all of the Beulaville Police Department employees.
“His employees wanted to take this opportunity in public to just recognize his achievements, what he’s been able to do over the past 31 years,” Williams said.
Rogers was presented with a framed collage of his badges and handcuffs. “He kind of started this little project,” Williams explained. “The guys picked it up and kind of ran with it, collecting his badges, start to finish, from when he was a deputy to a jailer to when he got his badge as chief of police.”
Stunned, Rogers said with a laugh, “Y’all finally got me.”
Of his badges and handcuffs, Rogers said, “Just so y’all know, I started this as my daddy’s badges. These are the same handcuffs that he wore, that I started with also when I was a deputy at the Sheriff’s Office. This has always been my dream to get this done.”
To Rogers and the officers present, Mayor Hutch Jones said, “I can’t say enough about you all. You make all of us in the town look really, really good. I’m proud to know that you all are on the streets day in and day out.”
Earlier in the meeting, Williams gave an update on the search for a new police chief, saying that interviews of the seven applicants started on Tuesday, Jan. 16, and that she hoped there would be a decision by the end of January.
One of the other major items of business at the January meeting of the Beulaville town board was a request from Douglas Clark to purchase a portion of town-owned property on Lyman Road. After his initial request was denied at last month’s meeting, he proposed two other options for the town to consider.
“As I had indicated at the last board meeting, we’re not interested in selling,” Mayor Jones said. “I had asked at that point in time, which I’m going to continue to reiterate tonight, knowing Mr. Clark’s track record, I would like the board to consider declining the current offer and create a timeline on when we’ll hear any other offers from Mr. Clark.”
“It’s going to continue, whether or not we put a timeline on it,” Town Attorney Justin Hunter said. “I personally would not recommend putting a timeline. I would simply say your offers are rejected. At such time we become interested in selling this property, we will contact you and any other interested buyers, period.”
Hunter volunteered to write a letter to Clark to that effect. “This is a waste of this board’s time,” he added. “We’re not interested in selling the property and I’m happy to write the letter.”
Commissioner Gene Wickline made a motion for Hunter to write and send the letter, and after some discussion to clarify the board’s intent, it was unanimously approved.
In other business at the Jan. 8 Board of Commissioners meeting:
The Beulaville Board of Commissioners meets the first Monday of the month at 6:30 p.m. at Town Hall.