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Extend the olive branch and create the sergeant’s position
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During a special meeting held Thursday, Jan. 3, the Caledonia City
Council spent about 90 minutes discussing the possible official
reprimand of Police Chief Randy Shefelbine. The action was precipitated
after the local police chief promoted one of his officers, James
Stemper, to the rank of sergeant without council approval.
The on-going flap between the police chief and the city council has
been reported numerous times in this newspaper. An account of the
January 3 meeting appears on the front page of this week’s Argus.
While the council voted 4-0 to not proceed with the official reprimand,
Chief Shefellbine requested the meeting be open and covered by the
media. The bulk of the letter of reprimand was published, since it was
an open meeting and the public has the right to know what is discussed
at an open city council meeting.
It appears as if Shefelbine and the city council reached a compromise,
when the council agreed not to go forward with the reprimand and
Shefelbine agreed that the council does have the final say on creating
a new position in the local police department.
Now that this issue is settled, the city council needs to take a very
hard look at the chief’s request, make an about face, and create a
second-in-command position. The Argus agrees with Chief Shefelbine that
the city needs to create a sergeant’s position.
Houston County Sheriff Doug Ely and Chief Deputy Scott Yeiter also
attended the Jan. 3 meeting. They both agreed with Shefelbine that a
person needs to be in command when the chief of police is out of town.
Due to budget cuts, the city council agreed to only hire one additional
police officer to replace the two officers who left the department last
year. The savings to the city will be approximately $50,000 per year.
How much of an increase in wages would the city incur if one of its
officers was promoted to the rank of sergeant? Because no position
currently exists, we can only speculate. Would it be an increase of
$3,500 per year, or $5,000 per year?
In any case, promoting an officer to the rank of sergeant would be far
less than the savings the city will be realizing by only replacing one
of the two officer positions. And it would make for a stronger police
department.
Doesn’t every department have a second in charge? They city council has
a mayor pro tem, who serves when the mayor cannot be at a meeting. The
county board has a vice chair.
It’s time to heal the wound that has developed between the city council
and the local police department, and the best medicine seems to be the
creation of a sergeant’s position.
-Charlie Warner
Argus News Editor
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