South Pittsburg faces mounting police overtime charges, shoots down idea for auxiliary police use

photo South Pittsburg City Administrator Sammy Burrows talks to the media in this file photo.

SOUTH PITTSBURG, Tenn. - With two vacant positions on its police force, South Pittsburg city leaders are considering their options in the face of mounting overtime payments.

At the City Commission's September meeting, City Administrator Sammy Burrows suggested paying the town's five auxiliary police officers $10 per hour to cover shifts during full-time officers' vacation time or sick leave.

Auxiliary officers can work up to 20 hours per week, he said, but no more than 100 hours per month.

"It would save us from having to pay overtime," said Burrows. "Our overtime per hour is over $25 per hour."

In one recent two-week pay period, he said there were 120 hours of overtime paid out to regular city officers.

Commissioner Ronnie Lancaster said he was "not too comfortable" using auxiliary officers that way.

"I don't think they're trained enough and certified good enough to do police work," he said.

Auxiliary officers would have to work alongside one of the city's certified officers during a shift, said Burrows, but they go through the same 40-hour training each year as the regular officers.

Lancaster said he would rather have Burrows compile a list of interested officers from other area departments to do the job.

"Either that or pay the overtime," he said.

City Attorney Billy Gouger said outside certified officers create no liability issues for the city, but using auxiliary police would.

"There are limitations on an auxiliary officer's authority," he said. "That does pose issues."

One of those issues is that auxiliary officers can't make arrests.

"What are they going to do if they drive up on something and the certified officer is busy [elsewhere]?" Lancaster asked. "They're either going to stand there, get whooped or drive off. It's not legal for them to make an arrest by themselves."

Commissioner Jimmy Wigfall said he was "not too thrilled" about having officers from outside departments cover open 12-hour shifts.

"If this is my job and there's any overtime to that job, then I feel like I ought to be entitled to it," he said. "We've got vacancies we need to fill before we start subcontracting."

Burrows said those positions haven't been filled because all the board members have requested to sit in on the interview process, and there hasn't been an available time for them all to meet.

"That's what we really need to do -- get somebody on board here," Lancaster said. "We need to get everybody on it and get it going."

The interviews couldn't start until at least mid-September because Mayor Jane Dawkins will be on vacation this week, said Burrows.

Lancaster said Police Chief Dale Winters should be at the board's meetings to answer some of its members' questions on the matter, and requested monthly reports from Winters at each regular meeting.

Dawkins reported that Winters was absent from the September meeting because he was on duty.

The board took no formal action on the issue and officials did not say if they would continue paying overtime to South Pittsburg's regular officers or if they would look outside the department to cover open shifts. But the idea of using auxiliary officers was rejected.

Ryan Lewis is based in Marion County. Contact him at ryanlewis34@gmail.com.

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