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Boardman increases number of police officers
BOARDMAN
Township trustees are expected to swear in two new police officers Thursday and extend conditional offers of employment to up to three more officers.
In August, the board approved conditional offers to Boardman High School alumni Christopher Costas, 30, and Michael Calautti III, 22, and they will be sworn in during the trustees’ special meeting Thursday, bringing the number of sworn officers to 53, including the chief.
Including Costas and Calautti, the township has hired five officers since the passage of a police levy in August 2011.
Trustees also are looking to authorize up to three conditional offers of employment Thursday and if they do so, it would bring the number of new hires up to eight for a total of 56 officers, township Administrator Jason Loree said.
Trustees pledged to hire 10 additional officers over two years during the police levy campaign.
A starting officer is paid $16 per hour, or $33,280 annually, plus benefits.
Police Chief Jack Nichols said he is excited to get the new officers officially in the department.
“The others that we’ve hired are now on the road. People take sick time, vacation, family leave, and that diminishes our numbers, but we’re able to keep eight on the road [with the new hires],” Nichols said.
Loree added that some days, the department has up to 10 or 12 officers on a shift.
Nichols has said when new officers start, they spend about 14 weeks in the department’s training program before they can be on the road alone.
A civil-service test was administered this spring, and officers are being hired from that.