By Terry Schrimscher, For the Tribune
SPRINGVILLE – The Springville Council met December 4, 2023 for the first regular meeting of the month with several Springville end of the year awards for the Springville Police Department. The awards were moved to the work session prior to the meeting to accommodate shifts.
“Every year at the end of the year, we always give out our awards to three officers but we’re giving out another award to an employee that is not a police officer,” said Police Chief Wayne Walton. “This employee is a department head in our city but the City Council does not know what he does for us.”
“This man takes care of all of our computer systems in cars and computer systems inside the building,” Walton said as he invited Asa Sargent to the podium to accept a framed letter of appreciation from the department. Sargent serves as Building Inspector for the Building and Zoning department but also does a lot of IT for the city.
Walton also gave out awards to three Springville police officers during the work session.
The Top Gun award for 2023 was given to SRO Officer Whit Burttram for achieving the highest score in firearms training. According to Walton, School Resource Officers are not required to participate in firearms training, but Burttram asked to participate.
The Chief’s Award was presented K9 and SRO Officer Kevin Thompson. Thompson serves as firearms instructor for the department as well.
“This was a unanimous decision with all of the supervisors and the officers. He’s one of our best FTOs (Field Training Officers). He trains all of our new officers,” Walton said as he prepared to announce Officer of the Year. “This year’s award goes to Matthew Newton.”
The Council also approved:
- A $2,000 donation to the Miss Historic Springville Pageant
- A joint access agreement between the city and Springville Beverages
- An amended version of the agreement to sell water to Springville Beverages
- Purchasing new utility billing software with ARP funds
- Outsourcing utility billing to Financial Imaging LLC for approximately $2000 per month
The Council moved both January meetings due to holidays. The first meeting of 2024 moves from January 1 to January 8 and will begin at 5 p.m. The second meeting moves from January 15 to January 22 at 5:30 p.m.