Council takes steps toward hiring police

Council will give further discussion to the potential hiring.
By JOHN W. GOODWIN JR.
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
GIRARD -- Police Chief Frank Bigowsky has repeatedly asked city council for additional police officers, and now he is one step closer to getting his wish.
During Monday's regular council meeting, Councilman Dan Moadus introduced legislation that would allow council to pull an unspecified amount of money from the police overtime fund and place that money in the salaries fund to allow for the hiring of additional officers and dispatchers.
Moadus said the dollar amount is unspecified at this time because council needs to discuss the issue and determine the number of personnel to be hired and how much those individuals will cost the city.
Bigowsky said the department has saved the city a significant amount of money by not replacing about nine officers the department has lost since the city entered fiscal emergency in 2001. He said not hiring officers at this point could be dangerous.
"I believe that it is time for the administration to sit down with council and find a way to add personnel to the police department. Right now the city is playing Russian roulette with the safety of the community," he said.
Bigowsky asked to replace one officer who recently retired, hire two additional officers and one dispatcher.
What went up
Councilman Frank Migliozzi, who is also finance committee chairman, said Bigowsky has run the department very efficiently, but in light of an unexpected spike in hospitalization costs, money is not available to hire officers unless it is taken out of the police overtime fund.
Migliozzi also said council must remember that the Girard Municipal Court is on track to overspend its appropriations by more than $300,000 this year -- money that would ultimately come out of the general fund. Judge Michael Bernard has disputed the dollar amount, saying the court was appropriated $220,000 less than last year's operating cost to operate this year.
Migliozzi said the finance committee would like to revisit the hiring issue with all members of council present.
"The budget is very delicate right now," he said.
Moadus initially suggested moving $100,000 from the overtime fund to the salary fund, but Sam Zirafi, auditor, said the department has already spent more than $40,000 in overtime and such a move would leave the department with "no authorization for overtime from this day going forward."
The police overtime fund for the year is $144,000.
Bigowsky said $56,000 would cover the retired officer's replacement plus one additional officer and a dispatcher -- a move he is willing to accept.
Other action
In other business, council gave a first reading to legislation that would authorize the safety-service director to contact two private engineering firms to provide estimates of how much it would cost to draw up plans for a controlled breach of the Lower Girard Lake Dam.
Council recently approved the drawing of plans by the Army Corps of Engineers for breach of the dam. It takes three readings to become law.
Councilman Joe Shelby said he feels the new legislation is needed because a private-sector company might be able to do the breach at a more reasonable cost than the Army Corps of Engineers.
Migliozzi said council could loose the $1.1 million in government funds earmarked for the project if the project is given to a private-sector company. He said the money is for the Army Corps of Engineers to do the work.
jgoodwin@vindy.com