By Tracy Ouellette
SLN Staff
The East Troy Village Board approved Monday night, the hiring of another full-time police office in the village at the request of Chief Alan Boyes.
The approval is conditional on having the money in the 2017 budget, but the board members said if the money was there, the need should be met for the Police Department.
Boyes told the board after a four-month staffing survey of the department the need for another office became clear.
“The numbers are pretty telling,” Boyes said. “When we looked at it, our officers are only on patrol about 3.3 hours a shift. That might seem like a lot, but it’s not really that much.”
Boyes explained there were times some officers couldn’t even patrol at all if there was a car crash or other things happening in the village. “It just shows how busy we are.”
Boyes estimated the cost to fill the position would be about $122,000 a year with salary and benefits.
Village Board President Randy Timms asked if it might be better to hire two or three part-time offices instead, saving the village money, but Boyes told the board the problem with that was availability.
“They’re unreliable if they have full-time jobs,” Boyes said. “We might not have them when we need them.”
Trustees Ann Zess and Forty Renucci both pointed out there were things about East Troy that were unique to the village and created work for the Police Department.
“I look at our community and all the celebrations on the square, which are great, but need police presence, and we have Alpine Valley, which other communities don’t, and the airport,” Renucci said.
“We also have three exits from I-43,” Zess said. “There are a lot of factors that draw people to the village.”
Trustee Matt Johnson asked Boyes if there would be anymore costs associated with hiring another officer, such as training and/or equipment.
Boyes said the department’s training budget was already set and it wouldn’t increase that and the only other cost to the village would be the annual $600 uniform fee, which was part of the police officer’s contracts.
In related news, the board approved the hiring of Ryan M. Borkowski as a part-time police officer for the village.
