Jan. 7. By Dave Vieser. There are 66 members in the Cornelius Police Department, and six were honored at Monday’s Town Board meeting. In fact, the first meeting of the year was virtually all about the town police, including an unprecedented anonymous donation of $100,000.

Before the donation was formerly accepted by the commissioners, they took the time to congratulate the following department members upon their recent promotions, with proud family members looking on:

—Vaughn Griffin – Captain
—Jeffrey Heinz – Lieutenant
—Tyler Mutarelli – Sergeant
—David Ibarra – Corporal
—Matthew Piwowar – Corporal
—George Brinzey – Corporal

Commissioners also approved the following:

—Accepted the aforementioned anonymous $100,000 donation. Town Manager Andrew Grant indicated that, to the best of his knowledge, this was the first time the department had ever received such a large donation.

—Acknowledged a $3,650 donation from the Peninsula Property owners Association to go towards the purchase of holster protectors for the police.

—Finally, accepted a $500 donation from the North Mecklenburg Republican Women.