BOARDMAN 13 new cops and firefighters will take to streets in January

Many of the hires will fill positions left empty by retirement.
By JOHN W. GOODWIN JR.
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
BOARDMAN -- Township safety forces will have 13 new faces on hand at the beginning of the new year.
The police department will start eight new officers Jan. 12. There will be five new firefighters joining the department starting Jan. 6.
Police Chief Jeffrey Patterson said one officer was hired with a grant received by the department to boost school patrols.
The other seven men and women were hired to fill vacancies left by several officers -- Sgt. Mary Lou Mueller, Capt. Richard Sell, Lt. John Rosensteel, Capt. Steve Balog, Lt. Jeffrey Heaver and Sgt. Ken Madeline -- who have retired in the last few years.
Patterson said that three years ago supervisors in the department were offered a sick-time buyout plan that would pay the officers for 50 percent of their unused sick time over a three-year period.
He said that to participate in the sick-time buyout officers had to submit a set retirement date. The plan is responsible for the retirements, he said.
Loss of experience
According to Patterson, the retiring officers had an average of 25 years' experience each. He said the department will miss the overall experience, especially in the detective division with officers who hold irreplaceable knowledge about crime and crime patterns here in the back of their minds.
"There is a lot of combined time there, and obviously you lose a lot of experience and knowledge of the department and community, but we have a lot of good people waiting in the wings to fill those positions," he said.
Several officers have already been promoted to supervisor positions within the department.
Patterson said a computerized crime analysis program the department is using will help to offset some of the knowledge held by the retired officers.
Near full-strength
The department now has 60 officers. Patterson said the department would be at full strength with 61 officers.
He said another patrolman may be hired sometime in March.
Two of the newly hired firefighters are also to replace retired firefighters.
Capt. Pat Romeo said the other three new firefighters are an expansion in the fire department in response to a study conducted by Tridata, an Arlington, Va.-based research company that assessed the needs of the department and suggested, among other things, an increase in staff.
jgoodwin@vindy.com