Article by Emily Wang, White River Now
The City of Batesville now has a new police chief.
John Scarbrough (pictured), the now-former assistant police chief for Batesville, was selected at a special meeting of the Batesville City Council held Wednesday at 12:15 p.m.
Scarbrough has been serving as interim chief since the retirement of former Batesville Police Chief Alan Cockrill on April 1.
“We interviewed a few candidates, and we are were lucky they were immensely qualified,” said Chris Poole, a council member and the chairman of the Public Safety Commission. “We were lucky, which made it a hard decision. It is the consensus of the committee to recommend John Scarbrough to be the next police chief.”
Batesville Mayor Rick Elumbaugh praised the appointment.
“We are looking forward to John serving,” Elumbaugh said. “I know he will serve our community well.”
In accepting his new role, Scarbrough thanked the council and the community and pledged to dedicate his efforts to serving effectively for years to come.
The council also received an update on the quality-of-life upgrade at Riverside Park. The mayor said the city was at a standstill in acquiring the VFW facility on Chaney Drive, which is needed to begin the park’s upgrade.
Elumbaugh said the city considered the first appraisal of $350,000 low. After a second appraisal of $610,000 was given, an offer of $800,000 was ultimately made by the city.
The mayor said the $800,000 offer was made to be fair to the veterans.
“We felt like it (the appraisal) was a little low, and we definitely wanted to be fair with them,” said Elumbaugh.
However, through negotiations with the VFW’s attorney, the $800,000 offer by the city was rejected.
With a need to begin construction on the project, a motion was made and approved for the city attorney to start the condemnation process on the VFW building.
After the condemnation is approved, the VFW could be forced to move from the current location immediately. However, the mayor noted he is sure the move could be made within a reasonable amount of time, noting the end of August as the probable date.
“The longer we wait, the further it pushes our project down the line,” said Elumbaugh, who added, “Everyone here has a great respect for our veterans, and we do not want to disrespect them.”
The payment to the VFW will be based on the second appraisal of $610,000, though the council is willing to negotiate the amount if the VFW would like to give a counteroffer.
Council member Poole noted the citizens voted for the park’s redevelopment and progress on the project is expected.
“This was overwhelmingly approved by the citizens,” said Poole. “We have a debt to them to move the project forward like they wanted us to do at a reasonable cost.”
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