Ross Township approves auxiliary hire and promotion, and chief reports provisional body-camera grant

The Ross Township Board of Trustees approved a personnel motion to hire Ricky Phillips as an auxiliary police officer (subject to background check) and to promote police recruit Max Vhar to a part-time police officer upon successful completion of his state certification test.

Chief Gart presented the motion and said the promotion is contingent on the recruit passing his state test; the motion record specifies a starting rate of $274 per hour for the promoted part-time officer. The board approved the motion (listed as motion 24-1 166) on roll call; Trustees Blow, Young and McGan voted yes.

During the same report, Chief Gart said the department logged a busy month of activity and that staff recently received provisional grant approval for body-worn cameras from the Office of Criminal Justice Services. “We were notified that we did get the provisional grant for body warn camera that I've submitted to them,” Gart said, adding that the department cannot finalize policy until the cameras arrive, expected in February.

Gart also highlighted a community donation drive that produced a large contribution to local food pantries and said the department will pursue training opportunities and internal reorganization of storage and vehicle-care spaces.

Next steps: the promoted recruit will be sworn in and begin field training after certification; the police chief will continue grant processing and draft the required equipment and usage policy once cameras are delivered.