Board of Works Takes Steps to Crack Down on Speeding Drivers

Frankfort Mayor Chris McBarnes, left, gives the Oath of Office to new Frankfort police officer Blake Ramos as Frankfort Police Chief Troy Bacon looks on. Holding the Bible for Ramos is his mother Tonya Brown.

The Board of Works took a step Wednesday in an attempt to reduce the amount of those individuals driving over the speed limit.

“We’ve purchased six of the solar powered radar signs that will actually flash with a strobe light if you’re going too fast,” said Frankfort Mayor Chris McBarnes. “Hopefully that will be a visual warning to people. We’re going to deploy these in key areas in the city — Kelley Road, Williams, South Clay, and then other locations potentially in the future with portables.”

The Board of Works gave Street Superintendent Jason Forsythe the ability to order these signs and negotiate with Stello Products of Spencer, Indiana with a not to exceed limit of $19,500. Each sign was quoted at $3,325 each.

The board also asked Frankfort Police Chief Troy Bacon to come up with some costs and quotes on portable versions of these signs.

McBarnes was asked what will happen once the signs are installed.

“We’ll give people a chance to get used to it and then we’ll follow that up with extra patrols on the police side and hopefully this will help curb some of the speeding in town,” McBarnes said.

The Board of Works also approved the hiring of the city’s 32nd police officer Blake Ramos, who is replacing Tom Smith, who retired earlier this year. Bacon said they are currently in the process of going through a pool of applicants so they can hire two more police officers after the first of the year.