Elkhart Police Merit Commission to advertise revisions to promotion rules; public hearing set for Jan. 26

The Elkhart Police Merit Commission voted unanimously to advertise and schedule a public hearing on proposed amendments to the commission’s promotion and hiring rules, moving a substituted draft into the public review process for a Jan. 26 hearing.

Chief Dan Melanes told the commission the department is submitting three substantive changes to align the merit rules with state law: adjusting an age-related hiring threshold, removing a prior residency requirement, and shortening the marijuana-use disqualification from three years to one. "We believe these rules will close and align us with the statute," Melanes said while outlining the changes and asking that the commission allow the draft to be posted for public comment.

The commission first took the previously tabled motion off the table and then considered a substituted document the city provided that highlights the proposed edits. Commissioners requested the specific page and paragraph locations for the changes; staff said updated pages had been provided and suggested a short recess so the copies could be located and shown to the commissioners. On return, the clerk noted the alternate draft highlights the inserts and identified page 4, section 3 and related paragraphs for the changes. The draft also references General Order No. 1000 as governing related procedures.

After discussion, a motion to "grant permission for advertising and schedule a public hearing on Jan. 26 for consideration of the amendment of the police merit commission rules as submitted in the document substituted today" was made, seconded and approved by roll-call vote 5-0 (Clifton Hildreth: yes; Brad Billings: yes; Jim Rykoff: yes; Tom Barber: yes; Jean Mace: yes). The commission clerk noted the substituted draft would be the version posted for the public-review period.

The chief thanked the commission for moving the item forward and apologized for the confusion around timing. He also highlighted department statistics, saying violent crime decreased for a second consecutive year and that he would provide commissioners with a more detailed, color-coded breakdown of crime data.

During public comment, Jason Ray, president of Elkhart FOP Lodge 52, urged commissioners to research other departments’ promotion practices and said he found "not 1 that I could find that has exclusions based on past cumulative disciplinary record." Ray asked that any version of the promotional process that would exclude officers for cumulative disciplinary records not be passed without further consideration or revision.

The commission adjourned after completing its agenda. The Jan. 26 public hearing will be the next formal opportunity for public testimony and for the commission to consider final action on the proposed rule changes.