Police and Fire Department leaders updated the board Feb. 6 on staffing, equipment and permitting. The department has several recruitments underway while short-term staffing and equipment gaps remain.

Police Chief (referred to in the transcript as Chief Jennings) said two officers are scheduled for training and two recently accepted offers and are completing hiring steps; the department currently has two patrol positions open. Jennings said one officer has been scheduled for an April training class, and another remains on a wait list. He also said the department had approved a permit for the “Slawburger Chase 5K/10K” scheduled for April 19 during the Slawburger festival and that the event-permit paperwork is being processed.

Fire operations were affected by a hydraulic pump failure on the city's ladder truck, a problem Chief Jennings said occurred two days before the work session. The failure leaves the city temporarily without an aerial truck; the chief said the city maintains a contract and mutual-aid arrangements with neighboring jurisdictions that provide aerial coverage. The fire chief noted that ISO standards generally require two engines and a ladder on many fire responses and that reliance on mutual aid could increase response times for certain commercial or industrial incidents.

Chief Jennings also presented a proposal to raise municipal court costs. Jennings said the department is proposing to increase the municipal-court cost from $80 to $115; he also said there is a $10 fund component that would go to the police equipment fund to support items such as e-citation equipment. Staff asked that the ordinance to raise court costs be moved forward to the board's next formal meeting for consideration.

The board did not take a formal vote on any of these items at the work session; staff requested placement of the court-fee ordinance and the 5K/10K permit on the next regular-meeting agenda.