By Tyler Rothwell
The Buena Vista Police Department is reducing the size of its force, eliminating one position now that the city’s middle and high schools are merging and leaving a vacant patrol officer position unfilled.
The city is currently facing a projected budget deficit of around $450,000 for the next fiscal year. Wayne Handley, the city’s interim city manager, said the police cuts will help to reduce that sum, money that will be put toward the city’s general fund.
The approximate salary range for the two positions that will be eliminated is around $60,000 to $70,000, according to online budget records.
“The decision was made to defund them this year and reallocate the savings from that department back to the general fund for the city,” Handley said.
City focuses on retaining officers
Despite the changes, the city says its focus remains on retaining officers.
“Retention is definitely important,” said Dave Clements, the city’s interim police chief. “We want to keep our current depth… liking our culture and everything that we have going on here.”
Clements says the department will move from a 22 to 20 authorized sworn positions next year in light of the fact that Parry McCluer Middle School and Parry McCluer High School are merging; there will now be three school resource officers, rather than four. A patrol officer position that has been vacant since for three weeks will not be filled.
“We took away another sworn spot… essentially a patrol spot that was vacant,” Clements said.
The two spots being cut are not expected to hurt the department, Clements said. The schools will go from four school resource officers (SROs) to three.
Since the patrol spot was vacant, the department is reducing its budget without having to terminate any officers.
Parry McCluer Middle School students will be going to Parry McCluer High School next year due to years of problems at the middle school building – including steam leaks and issues with heat pipes.
The department does not expect there to be any disruption in response times, Clements said.
“My command staff is awesome,” Clements said. “We’re always happy to work patrol shift and do what’s needed.”
According to Clements, no staffing changes will be made because the two positions were vacant.
In recent years, staffing at the department has fluctuated. Despite those changes, authorities said they have been able to find new officers in a reasonable amount of time. The department’s total budget for the current fiscal year is more than $1.9 million, according to online budget records.
“When you look regionally, we’re at the low end… once you get into any form of rank… we start getting left behind,” Clements said.
former police chief Wayne Handley left to become the city’s interim city manager. Photo by Tyler Rothwell
BV attracts officers looking for better benefits
While the salaries for Buena Vista police are lower than other departments in the region, that should not be the only factor in attracting new officers, Handley said. The quality benefits officers receive, and the positive work environment are important factors, too.
A standard benefit the department offers is that paid leave counts toward overtime thresholds, according to Clements. Also, if an individual stays with the department for over 20 years, the city will keep them on its insurance policy.
Clements recently took over the role of interim police chief in February, following the departure of Handley, who became interim city manager.
When Handley arrived in Buena Vista in 2023, the department only had 12 sworn officers, but the staff has grown substantially.
“We had people that came to us and took pay cuts in order to come to the Buena Vista Police Department,” Handley said. “It wasn’t because of the money; it was because of the culture.”
Handley made it a mission to continue the culture when he arrived in Buena Vista, and he said he is confident that Clements will preserve it.
“The city offers a lot of kind of hidden benefits,” Clements said. “Our insurance is highly competitive.”
Handley says that work-life balance is very important, particularly in law enforcement.
“I want to make sure that we provide that, and that was one of the things that I wanted to institute when my tenure started in 2023,” he said. “That is the exact same thing that Chief Clements is doing right now over there at the department.”
Although Buena Vista ranks lower on salaries, benefits and other amenities allow for their retention rate to stay high, Clements said.
“We’ve been lucky to retain the folks we’ve retained,” Clements said.