Federal funds could fund new police hire

Robert Monteith

January 22, 2009.

The Petersburg City Council decided to hire another police officer after some grant money was found to fund the position for three years. It was a tough sell for some of the councilors as they worried about the position following the initial three years of funding.

The grant would give Petersburg about $89,000 a year for three years to cover salary and benefits. Petersburg would be obligated to pay $89,000 for the fourth year, however.

The program pleased Police Chief Dale Stone, who said the grant came along at a good time because they had an outgoing officer. It’s a way to continue funding a ninth officer following council directive to slash 5% from each department’s budget.

“As it happened, Michael Schwarte was resigning at that point, so we had a vacancy. I gave it to him, but I was going to come in here and do some whining. I know that most of you...have expressed the importance that you place on public safety. I imagined that I would at least have an ear for my request to keep the position,” said the chief. “This allows us to do it and it’s paid for by the federal government for the first three years.”

Stone explained to the council that the ninth officer provided essential services to the town, like patrolling the downtown area during the busy summer season and providing a police presence at the schools.

Those were services that Councilor Mark Jensen didn’t want to see fall by the wayside.

“If there is an extra officer there to walk the beat downtown or to spend time at the school. We all know there is substance abuse in this town with finding substances in our school. It’s worth $89,000 to me over a four year period if it keeps one young person off of drugs. I don’t see it as that big of an expense,” he said.

Those against applying for the grant focused on the eventual cost to the city. Councilor Bob Nilsen said that it had been difficult to get rid of employees after they had been with the city for a few years. Nilsen worried the city would be stuck with another officer, despite a declining population.

“I know from past deals when you hire somebody and he works there, after the fourth year he’ll still be there. I know that happens. The second thing, our population is going down, not up. Our police force numbers have been steadily going up,” he said.

Councilor Melinda Hofstad was also against the possible hire. She pointed to her record of being against adding new staff to the city’s payroll.

“Since I have been on the council I have never supported one new position. I did support the ninth officer with the grant, but other than that I haven’t been able to because I think we need to be looking at reductions, not increases,” she said.

Eventually the council decided to allow the city manager to pursue grant funding for a new police office. The vote was split 4-3 in favor of the move.