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ELKINS -- Elkins City Council has voted to approve financial incentives to attract new officers for the Elkins Police Department, which officials said is suffering a "severe staffing shortage."
Under the new policy, state-certified officers will be paid a $15,000 incentive upon being hired, and an additional $5,000 after two years of satisfactory service.
If such an officer resigns within two years of being hired, that officer must repay the $15,000 to the city within two years after resigning, the policy states. The $5,000 incentive must be repaid if an officer resigns within one year after receiving it; the officer would have two years to pay it back.
The policy also states that uncertified officers who are hired -- who would still have to attend the State Police Academy for training -- would receive $3,000 as an incentive after successful completion of the academy. They could also receive an extra $1,500 incentive after two years of satisfactory service.
The $3,000 would have to be repaid if the officer resigns within two years of being hired; the $1,500 incentive would have to be repaid if the officer resigns within one year of receiving it.
First Ward Councilman Rob Chenoweth said during the Aug. 17 meeting that the city's "Personnel Committee met yesterday… with Travis Bennett, the chief of police, and basically came up with a policy to attract certified officers, non-certified officers, and officers that have left the department and might be willing to come back.
"I think they're five officers short… We thought the $15,000 incentive upfront, with an additional $5,000 if they stayed for two years, would be good incentive for them to stay there for the two-year period.
"The goal is to get people to come here, stay here and not use the City of Elkins as a training ground for other departments," Chenoweth said. "I think the chief had done some research and believed that those numbers that we plugged into the policy were reasonable, as good as or maybe better than what other departments are offering."
City Clerk Sutton Stokes added, "The chief mentioned that his calculation was that a new officer, a patrolman, who made that first year's normal wages, plus whether they were certified and got $15,000, even if they got that much, that first year with that $15,000 was still going to be a savings (for the city) over paying higher-ranking officers overtime."
Bennett was not present at the Aug. 17 meeting.
Mayor Jerry Marco noted, "This issue is not unique to our area. Last week in Minnesota, there was an entire police department that resigned because of pay. So, they lost all nine officers at one time."
All council members present voted in favor of the resolution. Fifth Ward Councilman Cody Thompson was not present at the meeting.
During the meeting, the EPD's Capt. R.W. Belt told council members, "We've had two officers resign and two more thinking about it."
According to information from the City of Elkins, three officers have resigned from the department in recent months:
Corp. Daniel Sayre resigned April 14 to join another department.
PFC Dylan Coffman resigned effective Aug. 13.
Senior Patrolman Noah Elbon resigned effective Sept. 2.
The next Elkins City Council meeting will be at 7 p.m. Sept. 7 at City Hall.