Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Police Staffing Overtime topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Police chief says overtime request tied to Pratt & Whitney strike; Middletown reports steady lateral recruitment
Summary
Police Chief Eric M. Costa told the Middletown Common Council on Aug. 4 that an overtime appropriation on the agenda stemmed from unexpected coverage needs caused by a Pratt & Whitney strike; he said the department is otherwise filling vacancies mainly with lateral hires and is attracting transfers.
Police Chief Eric M. Costa told the Middletown Common Council at its Questions Directors workshop on Aug. 4 that a pending overtime appropriation resulted from unexpected coverage needs tied to a strike by Pratt & Whitney, a Department of Defense contractor.
Costa said the department had been close to finishing the fiscal year under budget and that the strike forced overtime deployments that pushed the department past its budget ceiling. "That’s the reason why we’re asking for this," he said.
Council members pressed the department about recruitment and vacancies during the same exchange. Councilman Lefredo asked about the number of open positions and whether the city was having trouble hiring; Costa said the department currently shows several vacancies but that three incoming hires are lateral transfers and that lateral recruitment typically produces "around 10 to 12 officers." He added that officers are attracted by the department’s career-development opportunities and benefits.
Lefredo also noted a Hartford Courant story about regional hiring struggles and asked whether Middletown appeared on that list. The chief and Lefredo confirmed Middletown was not listed and that transfers from other Connecticut municipalities are helping fill openings.
Council members and the chief discussed retirements that will create short-term gaps; Costa said two retirements were recently submitted that will create additional vacancies when the officers exhaust their leave. He explained that the city budgets for positions but that overtime has been used to maintain coverage while vacancies are filled.
The appropriation for overtime remained on the meeting agenda for formal action later in the council’s process. The workshop then moved on to other department reports and was adjourned without additional immediate action on the appropriation.
The workshop discussion did not include a detailed dollar amount tied to the overtime request in the transcript; the chief said the overtime need was driven by the strike and that, without that event, the department would have been under its budget ceiling.
