Berryville council approves 4 applicants for youth council

The Berryville City Council approved four applicants for its new youth council at its regular meeting on Tuesday, June 18.

Council member Ashley Sharp, who has spearheaded the youth council project, said she had originally envisioned a larger group and had even extended the application past the end of April.

“I extended it until the end of school, since we didn’t have very many applications,” Sharp said. “And so we ended up with four.”

Sharp suggested approving the four applicants and then reopening the application process.

“I also thought we could open it up to the private schools,” she said. “Let’s see if they want to apply. That way we can make sure we hit everyone. I’ve tried to get it out to home-school students as well, but that was kind of difficult to make sure I got it out to all of them.”

Sharp said starting with a smaller group could be a good thing.

“Sometimes it’s better,” she said. “And the four that we got are really quality applicants. They have great applications, great letters of recommendation. They’ll do a great job.”

Although the applicants weren’t identifield, Sharp said two will be seniors in the next school year, with one junior and one sophomore.

In other business, police chief Robert Bartos presented his monthly report to the council.

During the month of May, Bartos said, Berryville police issued 95 citations, down from 147 in May 2023. Sixty- six offenses were reported, down from 90 a year earlier. The department’s clearance rate was 88 percent and $685 in fines and bonds was collected. Bartos said there were 24 accidents in May, more than double the total of 11 from May 2023.

“The reason some of the numbers are down is we’ve been a little shorthanded on officers,” Bartos said. “We’re hoping to have that filled, maybe by the end of next month.”

Council member Max Nichols asked if the department needed to hire another officer, and Mayor Tim McKinney said a candidate has been identified.

“Hopefully, they’ll be on duty before too long,” McKinney said.

McKinney told the council that the annual Fire on the Mountain fireworks display will be held on the night of Thursday, July 4, at “approximately 9 o’clock or whenever it gets dark enough to do it, so get your lawn chairs and find you a good spot.”

After an executive session, the council approved step raises for city employees.

The Berryville City Council’s next regular meeting is scheduled for 6 p.m. Tuesday, July 2, at City Hall.