LIMA — Lima City Council will hold a second reading today to consider contracting with Patrick Staffing to bolster the number of detectives at the Lima Police Department.
The ordinance would authorize a contract with the staffing agency to pay a retired Lima police detective for 520 hours of work with total compensation not to exceed $17,160. The contract would run through the end of this year.
The ordinance is being considered a second time after not gaining enough votes to pass on its first reading June 5, with 3rd Ward Councilman Jesse Lowe II and 6th Ward Councilman Derry Glenn both voting against it. 7th Ward Councilwoman Ann Miles was absent from that meeting.
Lowe said hiring city positions through contract work is not a good use of city funds. Additionally, the timing of this move to fill the detective ranks is suspect being in an election year.
“The mayor hasn’t been thinking about putting anybody else in that bureau for a long time,” Lowe said. “All of a sudden with it being brought out during this campaign year, he wants to replace somebody. How do you explain to families who have cold cases in this city that they are about to hire a temporary detective for six or seven months?”
The contract would help address lower staffing levels in the detective bureau that were caused by multiple recent departures, both expected and unexpected, according to Lima Police Chief Kevin Martin.
“We had a few unexpected retirements,” Martin said. “One was a disability retirement. Another detective decided to retire because he figured he had been here long enough. That was one that had not been planned for. We also had a third retirement that occurred that had been pre-planned. For all of those, we cannot fill the position until we have a vacancy.”
One officer, Jesse Harrod, had been on the promotion eligibility list and was promoted to detective last week. Additionally, Ptl. Deana Lauck has been appointed an acting detective, leaving one other vacancy to fill. That is where the Patrick Staffing contract would come in, Martin said.
“We’ve got three officers that are going to be graduating the police academy Wednesday, and it will take a little time to get them trained, and it will take some time to get through the civil service process to get the current promotions done for the two vacant positions,” he said. “Rather than paying the current detectives overtime to get background investigations done, if we get a retired detective back in to do them for us, it would be more cost effective, and it keeps us from overwhelming our detectives with overtime.”
Lowe also voiced concern over how the chain of command would apply in the department should a contract employee be brought in.
“At the end of the day, they would not answer to the city, but they would answer to the temp service,” he said.
Lima City Council will meet at 7 p.m. in council chambers at the Lima Municipal Building.
