Saving money hot topic (10/28/05)

REDKEY — Ways to save money, reduce hours for full-time police officers and increase the use of reserve police officers here were discussed for more than an hour Thursday afternoon by town council members and Marshal Donnie James.

Currently the town has two full-time officers, James and Patrolman Mike Daniels. The third officer’s slot is vacant, and one of the marshal’s proposals called for not hiring another patrolman, but trying to make better use of the reserve officers.

James proposed that rather than having the full-time officers working 12-hour shifts Monday through Friday and then alternating weekend duty, he would rather see the full-time officers work 8-hour shifts Monday through Friday, and use more reserve officers on the weekends. This plan will call for Jay County police to respond to Redkey calls when the full-time and reserve officers are not readily available, James said.

The plan could not take effect until January because it will require time to train more reserve officers, James said, noting that he presently had about five candidates.

The three council members present at the meeting, Violet Erlenbush, Dottie Quakenbush and Darrell Smith agreed they would rather have the full-time officers working eight-hour shifts, and said if the third full-time officer was not hired, there would be more town funds available for uniform expenses for the reserve officers.

In addition to serving as a councilmember, Quakenbush also took minutes at the meeting as clerk-treasurer Brenda Adkins was not in attendance.

Following further discussion, the three council members unanimously agreed to adopt the eight-hour shift plan for the full-time officers and to increase utilization of the reserves, starting with the 2006 budget year in January.

Reserves will also be asked to work more hours when the full-time officers are on vacation.

James said that this would help the personnel problems in his department. Turnover among Redkey full-time police officers has been high in recent years. James said that this week, even with taking a day off on Wednesday, he figured he was only making roughly $4.40 an hour, considering the long hours that he was putting in.

Two Redkey residents also spoke at the meeting. Charlie Noble criticized James and the department, while Joe Anderson complimented James on the work he was doing.[[In-content Ad]]