Council includes police hiring suspension on consent agenda after chief cites recruitment and training bottlenecks

The council included on its consent agenda a resolution to suspend the requirements of a civil-service statute for police hiring for one year to give the department more flexibility in recruitment and onboarding. The resolution was considered among other consent items and was passed as read. Rex Mueller of the Police Department told the council the department is "about two down based on our available pool of candidates to hire and train" and that the most difficult part of the process is getting recruits through the required training. He said the suspension gives the department flexibility while preserving post-offer integrity checks: "We also have a lot of integrity measures following a conditional offer of employment," he said, and the department recently took its process to the civil service commission and received endorsement. The resolution is listed on the agenda as suspending requirements of "section 400 dash 11 1 a of the Iowa code" for hiring police employees for one year. The item was approved as part of the consent package of routine items the council adopted at the meeting.