By GLEN WERLING
Should Ossian blend its fire department and police department into one supervised public safety department? And if so, what would such a department look like?
Those were the questions on the minds of the Ossian Board of Metropolitan Commissioners Tuesday evening.
The board has received no applications for its open position for police chief, board president Caleb Chichester said.
One of the main reasons for that, stated Ossian Police Sgt. Stephanie Tucker, is the possibility that the Ossian Town Council could switch to a public safety department in which police officers could be required to be certified firefighters as well.
“If you look up the status of the department, people don’t know what’s happening,” Tucker said, “I’ve heard that from someone who was interested in applying. They said, ‘I can’t apply knowing that my job may not exist in another year.’”
She added that as long as there is uncertainty in how the department will be operated in the future the hiring process for a police chief is being “sabotaged.”
“You’re not going to get anyone to do it,” she said.
Town council member Jeff Kemper, who serves as the council’s liaison to the police commissioners, asked where the idea was coming from that the town was considering an umbrella public safety department.
Chichester replied that the town council has asked him to explore what all would be involved in putting the police department under a public safety department.
He further observed that doing so would eliminate the need for a police commission as the new agency of public safety would be governed by a public safety commission or board of public safety.
Tucker added that a current candidate for re-election to one of the two at-large positions on the council is campaigning based on 24-hour police coverage. When Kemper — who is also seeking re-election to one of the two at-large positions on the council — asked who that was, Tucker replied that it was Josh Barkley.
Tucker is also seeking election to an at-large position and has as her competition Barkley and Kemper.
Chichester said that if a department of public safety is formed he could see how it would impact the decision by anyone to apply for the police chief position.
Current Chief Dave Rigney said he has also received calls about the open position as far as what is the future status of the department and he doesn’t know what to say.
Kemper said that he wasn’t in agreement with requiring police officers to also be firefighters. “I just know my personal opinion is unless you’re paying me a lot of money, I’m not going to wear two hats,” Kemper said.
He also questioned the need for a public safety director. “If you already have a police chief and a fire chief, why would you want to pay for another executive position if you’re already fighting budget issues as a town as a whole?” he asked.
Tucker added that since she’s been a police officer in Ossian, the town has grown considerably and the police department has not grown with it.
She added that the department is having a difficult time finding qualified police officers, if dual certification is required she believed that finding qualified people to fill the positions would become even more difficult.
“I can probably count on one hand the number of people I know qualified to be both police officers and firefighters,” she said.
Tucker also questioned why Rigney has been excluded from the conversations that Barkley and town council member Dennis Ealing have had with the Wells County Sheriff about the sheriff’s department possibly providing additional coverage for Ossian — or about the potential for a public safety department.
Ultimately it’s the town council’s decision whether or not a department of public safety is formed.
After discussing the matter further, Chichester brought the question back around to what is the pleasure of the commissioners regarding the posting of the open position for police chief.
After some discussion, Chichester and fellow police commissioners Bob Miller and Stan Reed agreed to re-post the position on the town’s website, the website of the Indiana Law Enforcement Academy and on the website of the Indiana Association of Chiefs of Police.
The deadline for applications to be received was extended to Nov. 4. Applicants may reside in Wells County or a contiguous county, which is the state law Tucker said. Rigney added, however, that the commissioners would be wise to consider travel time to Ossian. He noted the commissioners would likely not want to hire someone who lives an hour away.
The commissioners also agreed that the next new patrol vehicle — which Rigney said is at Family Ford in Bluffton awaiting the clearing of paperwork and set-up — will be an unmarked vehicle that the chief of police will have as a take home vehicle.
In the meantime, Chichester will contact the sheriff’s department and discuss additional coverage for the town while the Ossian Police Department still has open positions, while Miller will explore the challenges, the pros and the cons, and the options offered by a consolidated public safety department by speaking with municipalities that are working with that model.
Tucker also informed the commissioners that 16 applications have been received for the open full-time officer positions on the department. Two of the applicants were formerly employed by other police agencies. The officers will be required to complete a written test starting at 10 a.m. this Saturday at Ossian Elementary School.
The certified officers will be permitted to leave, but the non-certified will have to stay for physical agility tests, Tucker said.
The commissioners also:
• Approved of spending an amount not to exceed $32,000 for the purchase of six body cameras, two in-car cameras and upgrade to the camera system in the department’s interview room. Motorola Solutions of Fort Wayne is supplying and installing the equipment. The contract will include a five-year annual subscription fee of $5,508 which Tucker said the department intends to include in its annual departmental budget.
• Hired Quinton Greer as a part-time police officer.
• Learned from Rigney that the department spent $1,189.75 on gasoline during the recent fiscal month. The monthly fuel budget is $1,166.67. The total monthly miles was 3,868 of which 1,376 were commuter miles.
• Learned from Rigney that between Aug. 7 and Sept. 3, the department’s officers accrued 26.5 hours of overtime. Rigney logged 17.5 hours of overtime, Brian McClish 6.5 hours and Russ Mounsey 2.5 hours.
glenw@news-banner.com
