Contact: Julia Jarema
Date: May 14, 2007
Phone: (919) 733-5027 x231

Butner Police and Fire Commission Holds First Meeting

Butner – The new Butner Police and Fire Commission held its first meeting April 23 in Butner.

The commission was created by the North Carolina General Assembly last year when it passed legislation authorizing the incorporation of the town of Butner and is designed to provide an avenue for local input. The group will review the operations and policies of Butner Public Safety.  The unique division, which is a part of the Department of Crime Control and Public Safety (CCPS), provides full time police and fire protection for the town of Butner.

The commission is charged with: consulting with the CCPS secretary in the hiring of the Butner Public Safety director; making recommendations for the division's needs to the secretary; and receiving and forwarding citizen complaints about the division to the Butner Public Safety director and CCPS secretary.

The seven-member commission is comprised of Patsy Christian, Marshall Dixon, Phillip Duke, Terry Hatcher, Vernon Morton, Vernon Wiggs and Connie Wortham. Three of the commission members are appointed by the town of Butner, two by the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services and one each by Granville County and the Department of Crime Control and Public Safety. The commission members elected Vernon Morton as their chairman and Phillip Duke as vice-chairman at last month's meeting.

The commission will meet on the fourth Wednesday each January, April, July and October. The next meeting is scheduled for July 23 at 7 p.m. at the South Granville Water and Sewer Authority on West C Street.

Butner is home to several facilities operated by the state Department of Health and Human Services, including the John Umstead psychiatric hospital, the Central Region psychiatric hospital, the RJ Blackley Alcohol and Drug Abuse Treatment Center, the Murdoch Developmental Center and the Whitaker School, for emotionally-handicapped adolescents. The town also includes the North Carolina Department of Correction's Umstead Correctional facility and a North Carolina National Guard training facility.

# # #