The Piedmont City Council has agreed to allow Police Chief Freddie Norton to hire two new officers in order to provide school recourse officers for Piedmont City Schools.
Council Member Greg South made the motion during Tuesday’s city council meeting.
According to South, Superintendent Mike Hayes agreed to pay costs associated with training and equipping the officers. The city would be responsible for their salary.
However, as the city has nothing in writing from Hayes or the school board, several council members had concerns prior to the vote. Still, South was confident that a verbal agreement was sufficient, saying that the “details can be worked out later.”
Council Member Ben Keller cast the lone “No” vote. He stressed that he is in favor of hiring the SROs, after first seeing a written agreement.
Chief Norton said that as newly hired officers, the SROs would receive the same salary and benefits as regular city officer: $13.50 per hour starting pay for an uncertified officer, $15 per hour for one who is certified.
He stressed that new hires would not be able to enter the Police academy until January and therefore would not be ready to report to the city’s two school campuses until the 2020-2021 school year.
However, Norton said that he currently had two officers on the force that could be ready to transition to SROs as soon as he could hire their replacements.
“This is going to be a great relationship, and I know that what we did right here tonight [was] for the city of Piedmont,” South said after the vote.
In other business, the council approved the city budget for the 2019-2020 fiscal year.
Bills for payment were approved in the amount of $772,966.47.
Mayor Bill Baker read a proclamation declaring October 6th, though 12th as Fire Prevention Week throughout the city.
The next regular Piedmont City Council Meeting is scheduled for October 15th, immediately following the work session, which is set for 5:30pm.