Council Approves Filling Some Jobs, Holds off Hiring Police Officers

Tuesday, St. Charles City Council approved filling four vacant positions in the public works department and one in the human relations department, but asked the police chief to wait to hire two new police officers.   

Several council members said they wanted to wait to approve the police officer positions until they had more information about the city's finances and voted not to approve the request. The council also decided to hold off on voting on a request to fill an open position in the Community Development department. 

Ward 4 Councilman Bob Kneemiller opposed approving all but the human resources position until the city council could see the quarterly report on city revenues. One revenue stream was coming in less than anticipated, he said. 

"The last thing I want to do is fill all eight positions and find out we're down a substantial amount of money and not be able to afford those positions," he said. 

Debbie Aylsworth, director of public works, asked the council to approve hiring one engineer, a fleet supervisor and two administrative assistants. Aylsworth said the salaries for the four open positions are paid for out of funds that can only be used for public works. Last year, the department saw an increase in revenue and decrease in expenses, she said. 

Council president Mike Klinghammer of Ward 8 said he supported approving the four open public works positions because the salaries aren't paid for through the general fund, like the other positions. 

Aylsworth got approval to fill the vacant public works positions after council members Klinghammer, Reese, Laurie Feldman of Ward 3, Larry Muench of Ward 2, Ron Stivison of Ward 9, Bridget Ohmes of Ward 10, voted in favor of it. Councilmen Kneemiller and Dave Beckering of Ward 7, voted against it. Councilman Mike Weller of Ward 5, was absent. 

The council also voted not to approve filling the open police officer positions.

A school resource and Drug Abuse Resource Education officer and a canine officer will retire soon, said Police Chief Dennis Corley. Replacements would likely be promoted from within the police department. Training for a new police officer to fill those positions that open up after the promotions takes 16 weeks, he said. The council will reconsider a request to fill  the positions later. 

"It's not really a 'no.' It's a 'no' until after we get the numbers in," Klinghammer said. 

However, the council then approved a request to fill an open position in the Human Relations Department. 

Also at the meeting, the council decided to wait to discuss the retiree health care benefits until after the two new members of the city council and new mayor Sally Faith are sworn in.