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HUBBARD TOWNSHIP -- Trustees have brought on two new full-time police officers to shore up staffing in the department, and plan to add more with the goal of having two officers per shift.
Sworn in Wednesday were Tyler Canada and Olivia Silva.
They will earn $23.19 per hour starting Saturday and must go through a two- to three-month probationary period, during which they will train with another officer.
Trustee Chairman William Colletta said the police department has been short staffed. It has four officers with two, Chief Ronald Fusco and a sergeant, off on sick leave. Meanwhile, other officers have left the department for other jobs.
"We are in need of officers to have more working each shift," Colletta said.
Officials said the police department budget is set up so the department can be staffed for nine full-time officers. With the two new hires, the department will have six full-time officers.
Currently there is one officer per shift. Trustees want to increase that to two per shift.
Officials said the township has had to rely on backup and assistance from Vienna, Liberty, Brookfield and Hubbard city police departments.
Colletta said he would like to get the police and community interacting more and he also wants more police visibility when students arrive or leave school.
LEGAL MATTERS
Trustees are having their attorney speak with an attorney for police officer Michael Orr to possibly work out a resolution to have him reinstated and return to work to avoid further arbitration.
Colletta said the matter has cost the township more than $100,000 to handle the case.
He said the legal matters are being handled by attorney Mark Finamore, who will report back to trustees on the situation.
"I will see where he is on this and what he has determined," Colletta said
Orr, a Liberty resident, was hired as a patrolman in 2006 and was placed on sick leave after an October 2021 incident at a truck stop. He was fired in January 2022 when trustees voted unanimously to terminate his employment.
He filed a grievance and an arbitrator overturned the discharge and ordered Orr to be reinstated, according to Trumbull County Common Pleas Court documents.
The truck stop incident was in reference to his alleged conduct with a truck driver during a civil matter at Flying J, off North Main Street at Interstate 80.
An officer's body-camera video shows the driver holding onto his driver's license, and Orr trying to get it out of his hands. Orr then touches the truck driver's arm with his handcuffs, the video shows.
Fusco, who was a captain at the time, said an outside agency conducted an investigation. Hernandez said Orr could be seen in a body-camera video hitting the truck driver with his handcuffs, after yanking the driver's license from the driver's hand.
OTHER BUSINESS
In another matter, trustees decided when an officer is on sick leave or extended time off they are not permitted at the police department or township building or property.
Also, Trustee Rick Hernandez said the Eagle Joint Fire District has applied for a $200,000 grant for a power cot, fire equipment and other items with a 10% local match.
He said the ambulance service is doing well to get more firefighters and paramedics and make the fire chief full-time status.