A county councillor here is concerned about adding new officers to Wellington County’s OPP force.
Councillor John Green raised the issue during a Nov. 21 discussion at county council about additional policing and the money saved by disbanding the county’s mounted horse unit.
Police services board member councillor Ray Tout said the plan is to hire a staff sergeant and two civilian employees at the recommendation of detachment commander Inspector Scott Lawson.
“It’s inspector Lawson’s belief that he would like to see more staff sergeants on the road,” Tout said.
He told the Advertiser the force is also looking at hiring two constables as part of its talks with the police services board.
Councillor Bruce Whale told council it was his understanding that when the mounted unit was disbanded those officers would be returned back to the force for regular duty.
Tout said the estimated $250,000 saved by disbanding the mounted unit will go back into hiring frontline officers.
“The $250,000 we will save will equate to two full-time officers on the street,” Tout said.
But Green said, “We don’t need to grow at this rate when we’re already the safest community.”
He was referring to a recent Maclean’s magazine feature that named Wellington County the safest community in Canada.
Treasurer Ken DeHart estimated policing costs for the county will increase by about $1.2 million next year, including the hiring of a staff sergeant and two civilians.
The county estimates 2014 policing costs will come in at about $16.6 million, with a wage increase of 8.55 percent expected.
Wellington County OPP employs 111 officers and 12 administrative and civilian personnel.
The county, according to Tout, has had meetings with officials from both the OPP and the provincial ministry of community safety and correctional affairs about on a new OPP billing formula.
However, Tout does not expect details of a completed billing formula will be in place until the middle of next year.
Based on the timeline, county council decided at its October meeting to defer signing a new contract with the force until particulars of the billing formula are known.
The current contract expires at the end of this year, but that is not expected to impact wage negotiations.
DeHart told council the hiring of a staff sergeant and two civilian positions may not take place by Jan. 1.
