The city of Southgate welcomed two new faces at this week’s city council meeting, the first meeting of the year. A new council member and police officer were officially sworn in and welcomed.
Matthew Barnett was sworn in as the newest addition to the police department.
“We’re happy to have him,” said police chief John Christmann. “He’s been working the last couple of days on a lot of boring things, first aid, CPR, some other training videos that he’s required to do prior to the academy.”
From the beginning of February until the end of July, Barnett will be taking courses and training through the Police Academy. From there he will train for about 10 weeks with Southgate’s police department before he is out in the field.
The city also welcomed Tom Whitehead. His seat on council comes after Mike Lycans vacated the seat at the end of last year.
As Whitehead adjusts to the position, he did not have a report to share but hopes to have one at the next meeting on Jan. 21.