Mission Police Department woes continue
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ST. IGNATIUS — For the third time in less than a year and a half, St. Ignatius is once again in need of a police chief. Shay Clairmont resigned from the police department effective Aug. 25, and Mayor Charley Gariepy said the town doesn’t have a replacement yet.
Gariepy planned to meet with the director of the Montana Public Safety Officer Standards and Training Council, on Tuesday to “figure out how to do (the transition) sweet and legal,” Gariepy said.
The town landed in hot water last year when it hired P.D. Van Hoose, who served as police chief from 2004-07, to step in after Jerry Johnson resigned from the position in April 2009. Van Hoose hadn’t completed training requirements at the time, according to a letter from the POST council to Gariepy dated May 11, 2009.
“Mr. Van Hoose has no powers of a peace officer in the state of Montana until he completes the minimum training requirements,” POST Council Executive Director Wayne Ternes wrote.
At an Oct. 6, 2009, town council meeting, Gariepy explained that he originally submitted paperwork for Van Hoose to be acting police chief and later changed the job title to reserve officer. He also said Van Hoose hadn’t worn a chief’s badge or bars on his uniform since returning to the department in the spring, and was serving as a reserve officer and police administrator, receiving the wages of “a non-certified police chief.”
Following the debate over his qualifications, Van Hoose resigned from the department effective Oct. 6, 2009. The town council then appointed Clairmont, who had been an officer with the department for about five months, as police chief.
Before Van Hoose stepped in last spring, Jerry Johnson worked as police chief for nearly two years; Van Hoose had held the position for three years before that. But Gariepy said the department’s had a high turnover rate among police chiefs and officers at least since he’s been on city council — about 13 years. And the problem is a financial one, he said.
“We don’t have the money to pay (police officers) a lot, so (St. Ignatius is) just kind of a stepping stone,” Gariepy said.
Johnson resigned because he was offered a position with the Sanders County Sheriff’s Office that came with more pay and better benefits, he explained at an April 7, 2009, council meeting.
“It was a tough decision for me to make, but I have to look at what’s best for my family,” Johnson said. “(Council member Amy Miller) asked me what it would take to stay here, and I said, ‘Basically a better retirement system and $3 an hour.’”
At the same meeting, Miller voiced her concerns about what she considered the town’s long-standing problem with a “revolving door” for police department positions due to the low budget for officers' salaries and benefits.
“I realize our budget dictates what we can and cannot do,” Miller said. “I do not understand … why we can’t reward our police officers by giving them more money and more benefits.”
But the situation hasn’t changed, at least not enough to keep Clairmont around. While Clairmont said he has several reasons for leaving, including conflict with another officer and political issues with the town council, the police chief’s salary isn’t enough to compensate for the long hours the town expects him to put in. St. Ignatius has a police chief, one full-time officer and one part-time reserve officer, but that’s not enough manpower to provide the town with full-time coverage, Clairmont said.
“The town needs and expects 24-hour coverage, and two officers just can’t do it,” he said.
“The size of town Mission is, we should have three police officers at the least,” Gariepy agreed.
The two full-time officers work 12-hour shifts on a rotation schedule, he explained. Clairmont’s salary, as police chief on probation, was $2,410 per month — $13.90 an hour — with up to $300 in health insurance reimbursements per month, and a $400 yearly clothing allowance.
“We have no benefits down here,” he noted.
In the town’s preliminary 2010-11 budget, pay for a regular, POST-certified police chief will go up to $2,916 a month, or $15.31 an hour.
“We’re usually running a little lower (on the police chief’s salary) than other towns (of similar size),” Gariepy said.
The budget won’t be finalized until the Sept. 7 town council meeting, where it could be revised. Other than re-examining the budget, Clairmont wasn’t sure what the council could do to improve the situation with the police department.
“The chief down here has nothing to do with the budgeting,” he said. “I don’t have much of a say in what goes on.”
