TOWN OF WATERFORD, WI — The Waterford Town Board imposed a hiring freeze at the police department Monday because of concerns about whether newly hired officers are getting adequate training.
The issue comes amid manpower shortages created by employee suspensions and disagreement about whether to expand usage of the Racine County Sheriff's Office as a stopgap measure.
RCSO has a contract with the town to provide administrative oversight of officers on a temporary basis at a cost of $13,317 a month.
Town Chairwoman Teri Jendusa Nicolai wants to bring in additional support from RCSO until the police department is back to full staff.
A sheriff's representative told the Town Board on Monday that some work shifts in the Village of Waterford went unfilled recently when an officer called in sick.
"My main concern is public safety, and just filling those shifts," Nicolai said.
Nicolai also said relying on the town's remaining officers is driving up overtime costs — from $10,000 last year to $29,000 so far this year.
"We need to control spending," she said.
However, Supervisor Tim Szeklinski questioned the need to expand the contract with RCSO.
"We don't need to be hiring another department," he said.
Szeklinski opposed the hiring freeze until his colleagues agreed to advertise for more police officers even while the freeze is in place and while training protocols are being reviewed.
The move to impose a hiring freeze came after Nicolai and Town Supervisor Robert Ulander both said they cannot hire more officers in the police department until proper training procedures are in place. Both said they discovered a lack of training protocols while taking steps to launch the hiring process in response to current manpower shortages.
Nate Schweitzer, union steward for the town's police officers, said the union would gladly make improvements to the training process, if town supervisors want that. He also urged the board to consider adding new officers instead of expanding RCSO's role.
"We believe just staffing your police department is the best option," he said.
The board voted 4-1 Monday to ratify the RCSO contract, with Szeklinski casting the dissenting vote. No specific action was taken regarding more sheriff's deputies.
Suspensions and investigations
On May 6, town officials announced three police employees had been placed on administrative leave and were being investigated.
One of those three, Officer David Ferger, has since agreed to resign after three years on the job.
Officials have not identified the other employees, and nothing has been disclosed about the nature of the investigations.
Nicolai recently said she expects the other two investigations to wrap up by mid-August.
Operating on a budget of about $1 million a year, the Waterford Police Department serves both the town and the neighboring Village of Waterford with a staff of nine full-time patrol officers, plus part-timers and reservists.
The town has been without a police chief since Matt Johnson retired in January. The search for a new chief is on hold while the investigations are underway.
Szeklinski said staffing issues could be resolved if the town ended the suspensions and investigations.
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