Bonifay Police alive and well after 3-2 city council vote

BONIFAY, Fla. (WTVY) - It looks as though the city of Bonifay’s police department has avoided another shutdown, as the city council voted 3-2 Monday night in favor of keeping the department.

Concerns were raised earlier this month about budgetary issues that put BPD at risk of being axed for the second time in 2023, the first coming in May following the dismissal of the department’s top three in command.

Councilmembers James Sellers, Shelley Carroll and Rick Crews voted in favor of keeping BPD in place, with the only dissenting votes came from Mayor Emily McCann and City Councilman Larry Cook, with Cook making the initial proposal to switch to coverage from the county.

“Citizens are against it [the county taking over in Bonifay city limits] and I am against it as well,” said Bonifay Police Chief Jimmy Macon. “I’m just glad it was a three to two vote and we got to stay. Yeah, we may be short staffed, but we are going to make due with what we’ve got.”

Following the department-saving decision, Sellers made a proposal for Mayor McCann and Bonifay Police Chief Jimmy Macon to establish a budget between the original adjusted budget for the department of around $1.1 million and the newly adjusted budget of around $635,000.

Councilman Sellers was concerned after missing the previous budget meeting by seeing a near $500K drop in budgets, feeling it was unreasonable to make such a large sacrifice, while still keeping the BPD team safe.

Sellers’ proposal passed on a 4-1 vote, with Cook being the only vote not in favor.

“I want to thank the citizens of Bonifay. I want to thank the mayor and the council for what they did, especially the ones that gave us the opportunity to continue,” said Chief Macon. “The citizens need to know that we are not going to stop what we’ve been doing and that is continuing to serve them.”

Mayor McCann again refused to go on camera after the meeting.

The city of Bonifay has a budget meeting on September 7 to go over next year’s budget. The proposed budget is expected to be finalized by then.

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