Mahoning to police: Limit OT

Mahoning supervisors are hoping a new schedule for its police force might help rein in excessive overtime hours.

After a short executive session called in the middle of their meeting Wednesday, supervisors adopted a new schedule for the officers and chief on the township’s force, which will be utilized until the year’s end.

The change will not lessen police coverage within Mahoning, John Wieczorek, chair of the board of supervisors of Mahoning Township, said.

Supervisors also gave township police Chief Audie Mertz, a directive: There will be no more overtime hours afforded to the force for shift coverage.

“We can’t continue the way we have been,” Wieczorek said. “The overtime is overwhelming.”

Officers will still be allowed overtime for court appearances and emergencies.

Wieczorek, alongside Supervisors Bruce Steigerwalt, Myron Blahy and David Pollock voted in favor of the new schedule and directive. Supervisor Robert Slaw was absent.

Like the new schedule, the directive will be in effect until the end of the year, when supervisors plan to discuss the matter again.

According to the township office, the hourly rate for full-time officers in Mahoning is $34.57.

Overtime, which is currently at a rate of $51.85 per hour, has proved a long-standing issue for the township. In the past, supervisors have even offered part-time officers more than $20 an hour in hopes of alleviating the strain.

The issue reached a boiling point around this time last year, when a supervisor raised the possibility of abolishing the police department altogether.

The prospect, supported only by Steigerwalt, was shot down the same night it was posed.