Ames Today

The Boone City Council recently accepted a proposal to decrease the police department's staffing requirement from 18 to 17 officers.

During its March 6 meeting, the council heard a request from Chief of Police John Wiebold to change the staffing arrangements and compensation plan for the department. Wiebold explained that the department is still short a couple of officers from the full staff requirement of 18 members. As police departments across the nation experience a shortage of applicants, Wiebold explained that they have determined their department’s main recruiting issue is wages, especially with the County sheriff’s department recently approving a substantial wage increase for deputies.

Wiebold informed the council that following a review of the the department's budget and systems, he had come up with a potential solution. He explained that department shifts are set up so that all officers work 84 hours every two weeks. The officers have worked on a 12 hour shift system for years and have not determined a better method to serve the community. At 84 hours, officers are paid a normal wage rate for 80 hours, plus 4 hours of overtime. The four hours of extra overtime are not advertised as a part of normal wages since overtime is not guaranteed. Wiebold suggested that the department advertise the additional four hours of overtime pay with the pay rates to increase interest from potential applicants.

"In front of you, you have some some salary numbers there," Wiebold said in the meeting. "Those are comparable across central Iowa right now. It shows our current starting salary and that shows what the proposed salary is if you approve my plan. It also shows the top officer's salary currently should you approve my proposal. You can see that our current numbers are significantly lower than our competition's for employees. I know some of these areas are within the Metro and I understand we shouldn't be compared to what the Metro is. Unfortunately, the applicant pool is so small for officers right now [that] we do compete with Metro."

Wiebold also proposed a change to staffing. Out of the six years he has been at the department, the department has only had a full 18-person staff for nine months. For the rest of his time there, the department has typically worked efficiently and effectively with just 17 officers. Wiebold asked the council to decrease the approved staffing level to 17 officers but keep the wage budget the same and distribute the difference among the remaining officers. This would create an increase in wages, which would also increase interest for potential recruits. The City would even get to save money by not having to pay the health insurance policy for an 18th officer.

After a few questions, the council approved Wiebold's proposal.