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Boardman officials plan for police hiring
BOARDMAN
Although the township won’t begin collecting money from an additional police levy until April, officials already are looking ahead.
The township is reviewing its civil-service candidates for the police department in the coming weeks so officers can be hired as soon as the new money arrives, said Administrator Jason Loree.
On Tuesday, township voters approved a 3.85-mill, five-year additional police levy. Township officials said they want to hire additional police-department personnel, including 10 officers, in the next two years.
“It’s the first time in five years since I’ve been here that I can come to work and know that I have the resources to get the township back on its feet,” Loree said.
Trustee Chairman Thomas Costello said the new revenue does not mean the township will stop looking for cost- cutting measures.
“We’re structuring our contracts, and they will have significant savings,” Costello said.
He added that the township’s six unions are aware of the administration’s goals, such as having part-time police officers and firefighters.
The trustees are expected to discuss a new dispatcher contract in executive session at their Monday meeting. Loree said the township had started negotiations early with the Ohio Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association for patrol, whose contract is up in December, but that the process is on hold until after November’s vote on Senate Bill 5.
Police Chief Jack Nichols said the department has “hit the ground running” after the levy vote, looking for ways to expedite hirings and crime-fighting initiatives.
“I think the community realizes what’s been happening [with crime], even though everyone is hurting financially,” Nichols said. “We will not let them down.”
In addition to avoiding layoffs, which trustees said were inevitable if the levy failed, the township can set some money aside for capital improvements instead of using seized funds from criminals, for example, for operating expenses, Loree said.
“We’ll start putting money aside in capital improvements so we can do projects and start the land- banking process,” Loree said.
He said the township would like to set up its own land bank but that it will take time for the zoning department and fiscal office to organize it. Loree specifically mentioned the Terrace Motel on Market Street and the former Inglis Greenhouse on Southern Boulevard as two properties he would like to see taken over by the township and torn down.