Concerns over employee retention at Napoleon Township's fire and police departments were raised during a recent township meeting, with department leaders proposing pay increases that would come from their existing budgets.
Police Chief Duaine Pittman and Fire Chief Greg Bickford approached the township board about increasing wages after finding their departments' pay was below competitive levels.
"The fire chief and I had gotten together, along with our deputy chiefs and assistant fire chiefs, and talked about the wages and how we could make sure that we retain employees and whatnot. And we found that we were a little bit below, so we asked the board for permission to go ahead and give some raises," Pittman said.
- Napoleon Township chiefs propose raises without new funding
- Tires, ammo, and fire equipment purchases will be reduced
- Chiefs: "We need to take care of our people" to retain staff
Both chiefs emphasized that creating a positive workplace culture, which includes appropriate compensation and benefits, is essential for employee retention.
"What we're trying to do is make sure the culture is good. The pay is one part of that, but we need to take care of our people," Bickford said.
"Pay is obviously one thing, benefits is another," Pittman said.
The proposed raises would not require additional funding, as the money would come from the departments' current operating budgets. However, this would necessitate cuts in other areas, primarily equipment purchases.
"If you're taking care of your people, you're gonna have to take it from somewhere else as well," Bickford said.
"We have to do some budget adjustments. We have to be careful. Some other areas will suffer a little bit," Pittman said.
Equipment purchases would bear the brunt of these budget adjustments for both departments.
"Our biggest thing is always to equipment. Equipment is a huge portion of our budget," Bickford said.
"That's gonna be, you know, extra tires. We usually buy those at the end of the year, ammo, some other things within the budget where we'll just have to be a little more careful," Pittman said.
Both chiefs stressed that maintaining strong community connections remains a priority for their departments.
Local resident Gunnyr Iveson praised the departments' community involvement: "They really like to show out. I played a lot of football in high school so they always made sure they went to the games and gave a lot of support to our community through parades, and being there for the children overall, and just making sure to support us no matter what."
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