Gig Harbor police will get its new officers, city says, after council rejects further delay
The Gig Harbor Police Department has been authorized to add two additional officers and replace a retiree, bringing it up to 21 sworn officers, city officials confirmed this week.
The decision came after the City Council rejected an administration request for a $36,500 study on police staffing needs, saying it was unnecessary.
“We’ve had a chief of police working in Gig Harbor shy of 30 years,” Council Member Le Rodenburg said. “There is no one better informed to know our police department staffing needs than he is. Why should we go to a California company to tell us what we need?”
Chief Kelly Busey told the council that “It’s my belief that 21 is the right number to properly run and train the department.” The department currently has 19 officers, and one of them is about to retire.
City Administrator Bob Larson told The Gateway last week that the additional hiring had been authorized. Busey said there are 17 applicants, and the process of winnowing them down and traininig the new hires will take about 3 months.
“I hope to see the first new officer on the street sometime in October,” he said Tuesday.
For the past three years, the city has budgeted for two additional police officers, but they have never been hired, a sore point with the current officers, who have been working long hours.
In a public comment, former city council member Michael Perrow accused Mayor Kit Kuhn of attempting to defund the department.
“In the first year the budget included 21 officers, but you never allowed them all to be hired,” Perrow said. “In the 2019 budget, council approved to fund for 21 officers, but again you would not allow them to be filled. Now in the 2020 budget, again 21 officers are approved and funded, but you continued to not allow two officers to be hired.
“In simplest terms, the council’s role is to pass the budget and the mayor’s role is to carry it out,” Perrow added.
The independent operational study would have assisted in determining the number of officers needed for the city. The study would cost $36,500.
Council Member Jim Franich was the lone council member who supported the study.
“Having that data set is really important to determine the number of officers we need,” Franich said.
Council Member Bob Himes said the study would be a $36,500 duplication of something the city already knows.
He added the discussion was puzzling to him, especially why both former council members Perrow and Spencer Hutchins submitted a public comment on the topic.
“The (former council members) had a great opportunity to jump up and down when there was not a pandemic running loose,” Himes said. “When we did have money, when we did have things we could have done.”
“This is puzzling,” he added. “To me it’s phenomenal, why do it now? Why is filling a budgeted position suddenly a crisis, I don’t understand it.”
Council Member Franich moved to approve the study, but no council member seconded the motion.
During council reports, Council Member Jeni Woock asked for the Aug. 10 council meeting to consider a budget amendment related to new police staff, hiring and timing for the posting of positions.
The hiring of new officers has been announced before, but never happened. Mayor Kit Kuhn announced in January that the two positions would be filled. But contract negotiations with Teamsters Local 117, which represents the officers, dragged on until this month, and both Kuhn and Busey said they wanted to wait until there was a new contract to recruit officers.
The police department is budgeted for 21 sworn officers, but currently has only 19. At times, due to illness and leaves, the number has dipped to 17. This has led to a lot of overtime work for the remaining officers, Busey told the Gateway in December.
“It’s taking a toll on our officers,” he said. “They’re working long shifts, and they’re working a lot of overtime. At times, we have only two officers on patrol, and if one of them calls in sick, then someone has to work overtime.”
Normally, Busey said then, the department has between two and four officers on patrol, depending on the time and the day of the week. Officers work three 12 ½ hour shifts a week.
“It works great when we have 21,” Busey said. “Not so well when we have less.”
Busey said the department is accepting only lateral applications — meaning officers already trained and employed elsewhere — because it takes too long to train a rookie. The 17 applicants will go through a physical agility test and oral exam, an extensive background check, and an “emotional intelligence screening,” which tests their reaction to stress, anger and other issues.
In other business, the Gig Harbor City Council:
Recognized Principal Planner Peter Katich as he heads into retirement. ”It’s been an honor to work for the city of Gig Harbor,” Katich said.
Authorized the mayor to execute a $337,944 professional service contract for the design and permitting of the rehabilitation of the lift station No. 12 project. Lift Station No. 12 is 31 years old and transfers over one-third of the city’s sewage.
Authorized the mayor to sign an engagement letter for legal services with Ogden, Murphy, Wallace (OMW). In 2018 council decided to discontinue the city’s contract with OMW and hire a staff attorney. There is an understanding between both the city and OMW that they will continue to extend the contract as the staff continues to search for a staff attorney. The engagement letter extends the OMW service until Jul 31, 2021.
Discussed whether they want to continue meeting as a committee as a whole or break up into standing committees. Council ultimately decided, with a 4-3 vote, on standing committees.
Approved an ordinance which extends the period qualified businesses can use sidewalks under temporarily suspended special-use regulations due to COVID-19. The extension is to December 31, 2020 or whenever the Governor Jay Inslee advances Pierce County to phase 4.
Appointed Kimberly Stevens as a collector to the lodging tax advisory committee.
This story was originally published August 4, 2020 at 7:33 PM.