BROOKFIELD — Township trustees are scheduled to decide at their meeting tonight whether to extend the current contract of police Chief Dan Faustino by six months.

Faustino is operating on a retire-rehire contract for two years, which ends Dec. 31.

Suttles said Faustino told trustees before that he wanted his contract extended for two years, and now he wants it six more months. He did not indicate any plans of retiring.

Trustee Chairman Dan Suttles said he voted against the original two-year retire-rehire agreement when it was acted upon by Trustees Suttles, Gary Lees and Ron Haun in 2021.

Suttles, a retired firefighter from Warren, said he always has been against retire-rehire, indicating former Brookfield fire Chief Keith Barrett was a retire-rehire for 17 years, which he does not want to see happen again.

“I plan to vote ‘no’ again on the police chief’s contract. I may be outvoted by the other trustees, but I oppose retire-rehire in general,” he said.

Faustino has worked full-time at the department since 1990 and has served as chief since 1997.

He said he has spoken to trustees who have indicated they want him to stay six more months.

Trustee Shannon Devitz is aware the former trustees voted on the extension that ends this month. She said she wanted to see Faustino stay for an additional year, but he came back to the trustees indicating he would stay six more months.

Devitz said this will allow Faustino to see some grants and police department projects move forward.

Devitz said she expects Faustino to retire in 2024.

Faustino indicated he is considering retiring, but at this point, he is undecided.

Suttles said one of his main concerns with retire-rehire is it limits room for advancement for younger officers. It’s also a drain on taxpayers who are paying for a second pension and the “double-dipping.”

“I am sure there are others in the department who would like to move up in rank,” Suttles said, pointing out that the retire-rehire option discourages others in the department.