New officer joins Boardman force

Staff report

BOARDMAN

Trustees swore in a new police officer at their Monday meeting.

William “Bill” Bowers, of Pittsburgh, was sworn in bringing the total number of sworn officers to 50, including the police chief. An officer’s starting salary is about $33,000 annually.

In other business, Fire Chief George Brown read a letter he drafted responding to an article that appeared in a weekly publication in the township. The publication reported remarks made in favor of Issue 2/Senate Bill 5 by Mahoning County Republican Party Chairman Mark Monroe, but included an introduction to the article that did not quote Monroe and specifically named the Boardman firefighter’s union.

Brown said the article erroneously claimed that firefighters are alleged to have misused overtime and that overtime costs are hundreds of thousands of dollars.

“The facts are that our overtime budget is at $63,000 this year to date,” Brown said, adding the figures used in the weekly publication’s article were from 2008.

Brown said several firefighters have had severe medical conditions such as knee and shoulder surgeries, and have not abused time off or overtime in any way.

“[Everyone] has a right to their opinion on issues but to use dated and not current information to sway opinion” is irresponsible, Brown said. “I don’t see any abuse here, do you?”