CHINA GROVE — Nearly a month after Rowan-Salisbury School System announced it would place resource officers back into middle schools with the help of a state grant, China Grove leaders discussed the hiring process to fill the position.
The state awarded the school system $234,000 a year for two years. The school system has said it expects to have officers in place by March.
During the 2009-2010 school year, school resource officers were taken out of the schools because of lack of funding and budget cuts. In 2012, the General Assembly allocated $7 million to pay for salaries and training, which would put officers in elementary and middle schools across the state.
The China Grove town board discussed Tuesday whether it would assign the school resource officer position to someone within the police department or hire someone.
Police Chief Eddie Kluttz preferred to hire someone from outside the department, but the board felt someone should be hired from within the department. The board chose to let Kluttz and Town Manager Ken Deal decide how best to proceed with the process.
The board also entered into a five-year contract with Lexington-based North Davidson Garbage. The town ended its contract with Crash Morrison Garbage Service in October after the Rockwell-based company failed to collect the town’s garbage for a few days.
China Grove, the town of Landis and other individuals throughout the county were also left with uncollected garbage. Crash Morrison, owner of the company, later said he would continue to run the business without wife, Joanna, who was the company’s vice president.
The Lexington garbage collector had been picking up the town’s trash on an interim basis and had a contract with the town through December.
Rowan County has several garbage collection services with “Morrison” in the name, but they are not affiliated with Crash Morrison.
Contact reporter Shavonne Potts at 704-797-4253.