Budget committee discusses vacant police captain post, department warns accreditation work requires prompt backfill

The Canby Budget Committee on May 29 took up a request from councilors about whether the city could leave a recently vacated police captain position unfilled and use the salary savings elsewhere in the budget.

The question came from Council President Tracy Hensley, who said an email had notified the committee that “we had a captain that has resigned slash retired,” and that the city had been operating without that position filled for roughly six months. Hensley asked whether the salary could be repurposed for other needs during the budget year.

Captain Gonzales of the police department responded that the vacancy has increased the workload for sergeants, the chief and himself and that upcoming accreditation work makes the post hard to leave vacant. Gonzales said the…