Kasson council approves police hire and promotes captain to deputy fire chief

The Kasson City Council approved two personnel actions affecting public safety: hiring a reserve officer as a full-time police officer and promoting a captain to deputy fire chief.

The police chief told the council the department had been budgeted for 10 officers in 2023 but remained short-staffed; the recommended hire would reduce overtime and is projected to add roughly a pro-rated half-year of compensation in the current fiscal year. Council approved the hire for Connor Finley with a proposed start date of July 6.

The council also approved a promotion after a national-style recruitment: the top candidate for deputy fire chief declined the offer, and the second-ranked candidate, Captain Cody Miller, accepted. Council authorized Miller's promotion and directed staff to post the captain vacancy and begin the backfill process.

Council discussion focused on how to pay for the added position for the remainder of the year (estimated total annual cost including benefits in the roughly $100,000 range was cited by staff as a planning figure and the actual pro-rated cost for the remainder of the year will be lower), potential overtime reductions resulting from the hire, squad-vehicle counts and other small cost-savings ideas such as alternating vehicle take-home practices.

Why it matters: the hires address staffing shortfalls that have driven overtime and could affect response policies that now require sending two officers to certain domestic calls. The council and staff agreed to continue refining budget offsets to cover the pro-rated costs when the new hire starts.

Next steps: City staff will process hiring paperwork for the officer, bring a backfill posting for the fire-captain vacancy, and track overtime and fleet costs with department heads.