Finance Committee Agrees to Add Part-Time Clerk to Police Department's Proposed Budget

The Police Department presented its budget requests to the Finance Committee on Tuesday night as well.

Montville Lt. Leonard Bunnell and Resident State Trooper Sgt. Michael Collins discussed the department's request to add a part-time clerk.

“I’m pretty stuck in the mud here on that part-time clerk," Bunnell said. "It’s a sign of things to come."

Collins echoed Bunnell.

“It’s what we can do for the citizens of the town," he said. When they arrive at the police station in the morning, a clerk is available to help them. The addition of a part-time clerk would mean citizens would be helped when they came to the station in the evening, after work. 

As the police work load has risen, Bunnell and Collins said, walk-in traffic has risen, as well. Calls are up, emails are up, and the part-time clerk would help with that work, too.

The request had been for $11,197 for 20 hours. The Finance Committee voted to add to the proposed budget a clerk at $10,ooo, for an 18-hour week, with no benefits. 

While costs dropped in the police department's proposed budget on uniforms, overtime, equipment maintenance and repair and other categories, the requests for weapons and ammunition increased from $3,000 to $4,ooo.

And next year, Collins and Bunnell said, the department is probably going to have to think about replacing weapons.

“Not that we go out shooting people all the time,” Bunnell said, but even in practicing for required certifications, the weapons get worn.

Still, Collins said, the trade-in value will be high.