HUBBARD TOWNSHIP — Trustees since summer have kept their options open regarding the police department and who will provide future safety coverage.

Chris Gifford, Fraternal order of Police Local 85 president, said contracting with the Trumbull County Sheriff’s Office was just talk — until contract negotiations with township police began. By Oct. 28, it was announced that the consideration was serious.

A verbal request by Trustee Fred Hanley to Sheriff Paul Monroe was made in July for a cost estimate/summary of public safety coverage. The summary was received in July and lists a minimum coverage cost, recommended coverage along with a breakdown of deputy salaries.

l The minimum coverage plan would put one deputy on day, afternoon and night shifts and have two fill-in deputies. The five deputies would work 40 hours a week and would provide 24/7 coverage. This plan would cost the township $490,000.

∫ The recommended coverage plan puts two deputies on day, afternoon and night during Sunday through Friday. Saturday would have three deputies covering the shifts. This plan would cost $882,000 for nine full-time deputies.

Further communication between the trustees and the county, between July and now, was an Aug, 12 “thank you” letter from the trustees to Sheriff Paul Monroe. The letter thanked him for sending the summary as well as acknowledging his requirement that all three trustees be in favor of eliminating the current police department.

“This board of trustees is not at that point at this time … The trustees feel that additional time is needed to educate the public of all the positive aspects to include tax savings to township property owners,” the letter states. It adds that township residents cannot pay more taxes and that local governments are “facing more resistance in passing additional tax levies in light of current economic conditions that plague the Mahoning Valley.”

TOWN HALL

The township will have a town hall meeting at 6:30 p.m. today at the Hubbard High School auditorium; and the trustees will meet with the union’s fact finder Friday morning at 10 a.m. in executive session.

The township passed two 1.75- mill levies on the May 7 ballot. One was a renewal levy for police. The other was an additional levy. Both levies were to benefit Hubbard Township as “required for such personnel … for the payment of the costs incurred by townships as a result of contracts made with other political subdivisions in order to obtain police protection, for the provision of ambulance or emergency medical services operated by a police department … for a 3-year period of time, commencing in 2019, first due in calendar year 2020.”

The trustees believe the sheriff’s office is cheaper, as there are more factors going into what the township pays per officer than what it would pay per deputy.

Hanley was not available for comment. He has previously stated that the police payroll has increased from $480,000 to $611,000 this year mostly for wages, benefits, and increased insurance costs and if the township goes with the sheriff’s office, it would save $200,000 per year.

“The amounts you are hearing is just payroll. It doesn’t include hospitalization, retirement, vehicle maintanence or fuel,” said Trustee Rick Hernandez. “When considering everything we’d be paying for, the sheriff’s office would cost between $880,000 to $890,000 per year when last year our department cost $1.1 million. And that was after cutting overtime.”

The numbers in the bank aren’t the only concern the FOP has with the trustees. The negotiations have been ongoing since July and the police union feels it’s been left in a the dark about the officers’ future.

‘FRUSTRATING’

“The frustrating part is we went into negotiations in good faith. Everything I find out, I hear through the grapevine. They’re not being transparent with us,” said Gifford. He said the department was not notified about the township using speed cameras, when there was talk of idling the part-time workers or when the part-time workers were allowed to stay on. “There’s no transparency, no information passed. I hear it through the news and media.”

Continuing the FOP’s concern, the police fund had $239,840.74 on Nov 15 and, according to fiscal officer Susan Goterba, by Dec 13 the fund would be down to around $148,000.

“It’s not all payroll. We get $21,000 per payroll (averaging the officers’ pay) and this one will be a little more because of our longevity pay. But why the difference in money?” Gifford asked, stating that to his knowledge there were no large repairs done to any vehicles. “They haven’t explained the savings. The average cost for the eight of us (full time officers) is $73,000 a year after salary, insurance and pension. The sheriff is costing $88,000 per deputy. I don’t know where the cost savings are.”

According to Hernandez, there is one more pay period in 2019 and the township auditor has said there will be a little bit of a carryover into 2020, but not enough to cover until April when levy money comes in. The carryover would cover about one pay period and the trustees would be liable to cover around $350,000 until April.

“We are having some major bleeds. We need to fix them, but they can’t be a short-term fix because that’ll cause more problems down the road,” said Hernandez. “We don’t want to get rid of the police department but it is up to the residents. If people want the police department, they’re going to have to pay more for it.”

Hernandez says there is a lot of stubbornness on both sides of this issue and something needs to be done.

“I know people’s feelings on this and I don’t feel good about it. We have to make some hard decisions,” said Hernandez.

bshiller@tribtoday.com