The Franklin Town Council voted Monday night to move forward with a plan to adjust salaries within the police department in an effort to be more competitive when recruiting officers.
At the July meeting, Police Chief Bill Harrell reported the town is authorized for 17 sworn positions and had six vacancies. During that meeting, the chief asked that the town consider a more aggressive recruiting program for officers.
Since that time the town manager, the police chief, and the human resources and finance directors have met to discuss possible solutions. “We sat down and did some brainstorming to look at ways that we could continue to be competitive, but not break the bank,” said Town Manager Amie Owens.
In making her recommendation, Owens said the town should consider a salary survey for all town positions, not just the police department.
Mayor Jack Horton said that while they have more difficulty recruiting for positions in the police department, he agreed it would be good to look at salaries within all the town departments to make sure they are fair. “We’re not forgetting the rest of the employees,” he said.
One of the immediate solutions will be adjusting the starting salary for police officers. Owens said changing the salary structure in the police department will make it competitive and equitable with other agencies in the area.
Franklin’s starting pay for a police officer is $34,192 compared to $40,301 at the Macon County Sheriff’s Office, $37,349 for Highlands Police Department and 39,888 for Sylva Police Department. Owens recommended adjusting the starting pay to $40,500, which would be the same amount Waynesville pays its starting officers.
“I would put our benefits up against any agency in Western North Carolina,” said Council member Mike Lewis, who works for the Macon County Sheriff’s Office. With a pay rate increase, he said “nobody could beat us.”
When it comes to filling the vacant positions, the town has three candidates for Basic Law Enforcement Training, but 10 candidates are needed to run the class, offered through Southwestern Community College. Harrell said there are also some candidates from the sheriff’s office, and they hope the class will be held as scheduled in September. The last class was cancelled because there were not enough candidates.
Council member Rita Salain asked if there was a possibility they would hold the class with less than 10 people. Harrell said the state had given permission before for a class with nine people, but he didn’t think they would reduce it much more than that because of the expenses associated with offering the class such as instructors and materials. If the September class is not held, it will not be offered again until 2023.