MANSFIELD — Mansfield City Council voted unanimously Tuesday evening to approve pay increases and retention bonuses for the city’s police officers in an apparent attempt to stave off manpower loses in an already short-staffed department.
Afterward, Mayor Tim Theaker declined to say why the legislation — which was only scheduled to be discussed in caucus — needed immediate action.
“We just needed to. No specifics,” Theaker said, noting a new union contract and other details would become available “once it gets signed.”
“I think there is an urgent need to help out,” the mayor said. “We just have problems with the numbers and the officers.”
Stephanie Zader, an At-large council member, said after the meeting the city is in “dire need of officers.”
“Partially due to retirements, but also due in big part to other departments recruiting our officers. Wayne County departments specifically have changed their recruiting packages to recruit our officers with better pay than we are offering,” she said.
The city’s current three-year contract with the Blue and Gold units of the Fraternal Order of Police William Taylor Lodge 32 was not set to expire until July 31.
The Blue unit represents police officers while the Gold unit represents command officers — captains, lieutenants and sergeants.
SHORT-STAFFED: The Mansfield Police Department is budgeted for 87 sworn officers, five of which are paid by grants. The department had 74 officers as of Tuesday.
Of that total, eight are new officers who just graduated from the police academy and haven’t entered field training yet, according to Chief Keith Porch.
Of the remaining 66, 21 are supervisors, leaving 45 patrol officers to cover three shifts a day, seven days a week. Porch said his department has at least two officers who may retire this year.
That roster of 45 is reduced when officers are injured or sick or on leave or vacation. Porch said he also has nine officers who are in the Ohio National Guard or military reserve and are subject to being called to active duty.
The chief said he has four vacant supervisory positions.
“Those promotions are being held up since the absolute priority is patrol officers,” the chief said. “At every turn, the scenario changes for us.”
MANSFIELD TARGETED?: The answer for City Council’s immediacy may be an answer to recruitment efforts by other law enforcement agencies, including the nearby Wooster Police Department.
According to a post from the department’s Facebook page on Jan. 6, Wooster is seeking to hire experienced officers and specifically mentions law enforcement personnel from Richland County.
“Successful candidate(s) must reside in Wayne County, adjacent county, Richland County or within a 40-mile radius of 333 Burbank Rd., Safety Center,” according to the recruitment posting.
According to the job posting, Wooster officers with three years experience start at $36.91 per hour, which is an annual base salary of $76,772.80.
Zader said Wooster changed its policy of only allowing lateral transfers from adjoining counties to specifically include Richland County.
“If we want to keep the citizens of Mansfield safe, we had to take quick action to correct this issue,” she said.
It’s not known what the new pay rates for all Mansfield police officers will be under the new contract, which apparently took effect Tuesday, according to 2022 budget information offered during the meeting by Finance Director Linn Steward.
That paperwork shows the number of “steps” in the contract has been reduced to two from the previous four and a 7.75 percent pay increase “budgeted to start 3/1/22.”
The budget, which still needs City Council approval, also includes $461,500 in police department retention bonuses that will come from the city’s second round of American Rescue Plan Act funds expected to be received in June.
According to the MPD recruitment website, a patrol officer after two years will now be paid $34.80 per hour, or $72,389 annually. The listing includes, “*Upcoming Council Approval on March 1, 2022*”
During the council meeting, a Richland Source reporter asked why local lawmakers were voting on the legislation Tuesday that was made public only four days earlier and labeled “caucus only” with a vote scheduled on March 15.
Before the vote, Zader was the only member of council to address concerns about a lack of public involvement in the process.
“I have not spoke to citizens specifically pertaining to what’s in the (legislation),” she said.
“I have spoke to them extensively about the fact that they want to feel safe in their city, that they wanna make sure that officers are going to respond when they call and that they understand that we need to do something to incentivize officers, to come here, to stay here and to want to serve here,” she said during the meeting.
“So the people that I’ve talked to understand that we need to do something to correct that issue and haven’t been concerned about the specifics. They just want to make sure that they are safe in our city,” Zader said.
