(Spencer)– The Spencer City Council Monday evening approved a new salary matrix, sign on bonus package and a staff referral plan for the city’s Police Department. It comes as the department is short staffed and struggling to hire additional officers. City Manager Kevin Robinson says he and the city’s interim Finance Director feel confident they’ll be able to implement the plan without having much of a negative impact on the city’s budget. He says they had $1.6 million budgeted in wages for the department and that 6 months into the fiscal year, it appears they should still come in just under that budgeted amount even with the new matrix. He says the city’s emergency funds could be tapped to help fund an incentive program for hiring new officers…
Robinson added that should staffing in the department continue to decline, it could put funding the city receives for the school resource officer in jeopardy as that officer would have to be placed on patrol.
Police Chief Mark Warburton emphasized the need for incentives. He says the Spencer Police Department, along with a number of other area law enforcement agencies, are involved in the Iowa Great Lakes Hiring Cooperative. Warburton says there’s a lot of competition for recruiting officers as the pool of candidates dwindles…
Warburton says the Spencer Police Department has lost 9 officers in the last 2 years and that they are currently down four certified officers with the possibility of losing two more in January.
Following additional discussion, the council, with two members absent, voted 5-0 to approve the package.
