Franklin City commission authorizes lateral hires, approves testing vendor review and contract

The Franklin City Police Merit Commission on Jan. 6 authorized the police chief to begin a lateral hiring process and approved a testing/vendor contract with IPSP contingent on legal review.

The commission voted to start a lateral hiring process immediately after the chief reported the department is one officer short of full staffing and that the most recent candidate on the certified list failed the department’s physical‑ability (PT) test. The chief said the new‑hire list was exhausted and that 2–4 promising lateral candidates have already been identified without further advertising. "We want the best candidates," the chief said, arguing for time to recruit and test rather than a rushed schedule.

Speaker 3 (who presented contract business to the commission) told members IPSP had submitted a proposed contract for test administration and promotion‑process support and recommended reengaging the vendor. The commission approved the IPSP engagement "subject to review by Mister Barrett," with Speaker 3 and President Hollis reserving the right to require revisions after legal review. Speaker 3 said he had not completed a line‑by‑line review of IPSP’s proposed terms and would return with revisions if necessary.

The commission set March 3 as the likely date for an executive session before the regular meeting to select interview questions with an IPSP representative, Amy Emerson, available to attend. Members discussed scheduling interviews in late summer (August or September) to allow for appropriate notice, PT testing, backgrounds and interviews, and to avoid special meetings.

Actions taken at the meeting included approval of the IPSP engagement subject to legal review and an authorization for the chief to proceed with lateral hiring. The commission also approved a separate contract that had been included in the packet; the transcript contains inconsistent figures for the hourly rate in that packet and members agreed to have the contract reviewed (see "Details and clarifications" below).

Details and clarifications: The chief described a recent PT failure that exhausted the current list; the commission emphasized giving sufficient notice for testing. Speaker 3 noted IPSP had offered to compress timelines but stressed a longer notice period would avoid excluding qualified applicants. The transcript includes inconsistent numerical references to an hourly rate (figures of "170" and "2.10" appear in the record); the commission voted to approve the packet contract and requested legal review to confirm exact terms before final execution.

Next steps: Speaker 3 said he will review the IPSP contract language and report back; the commission expects to hold the March 3 executive session to finish question selection and expects interviews to occur later in 2026, depending on candidate availability and administrative scheduling.