PERRY TOWNSHIP — Township trustees approved the sale of an unneeded township vehicle in its meeting Monday.
The sale of the 2004 International dump truck through govplanet.com was originally approved by trustees as a motion in their Nov. 14 meeting. However, Trustee Chairman Steve Bailey said that trustees were requested to pass a formal resolution approving the sale.
In his report Bailey said that Brandon Little, who has been on leave from the police department since last October while serving with the U.S. National Guard, would be returning as a full-time officer. This will bring the department up to six full-time officers, one more than the five the department typically operates with. Bailey said Police Chief Richard Kimble has asked to retain all six full-time officers and reduce the department’s part-time hours to only what was necessary for coverage.
“They asked if they could stick with six full-time instead of five, which would virtually eliminate part-time or be very minimal part time only for cover,” said Bailey.
Bailey said that the township had budgeted approximately $65,000 for part-time officers, and adding another full-time officer including Little’s benefits would cost approximately $63,000, $2,000 less than the anticipated cost of part-time hours. Bailey also said that the shift would reduce the department’s overtime expenses, while increasing road coverage. Bailey said the change did not need approval from trustees and the changes would be reviewed at a later date to ensure they are falling within budgeted projections.
Bailey also said that Kimble was in the process of applying for a grant from the Department of Justice Office of Community Oriented Policing Services’ “Cops Hiring Program,” which provides direct financial support to police departments across the country to hire new officers and expand community policing capacity.
During his report, Trustee Tony Ierepoli said the street department is continuing with leaf pickup and had received several calls thanking them for their pickup time, noting that the department is expected to be finished with leaf pickup for the year by the end of the week. Ierepoli also read a letter from township resident Lou Markovich, thanking the department for their work installing a culvert on his property.
“He said he would like to thank the road department crew for installing the storm drain culvert and leveling out there with fill dirt, topsoil and grass planning across the front of my lot adjacent to Countryside this past August. I’m very happy with it; the road crew did an excellent job,” said Ierepoli.
The meeting concluded with an executive session for the discussion of personal matters with no action to follow.
The board of trustees will meet next at 4 p.m. Dec. 11.
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