Carrollton approves lateral transfer of police officer

By Editor | July 19, 2023 |

By Carmen Ensinger

One down and one to go. The Carrollton City Council filled one of the positions for a city police officer at the July 13 council meeting by approving the hiring of Shane Carter as a full-time patrolman.
The city has basically been down two officers since Police Chief Mike McCartney resigned and Officer Jimmy Buchanan was promoted to the Chief position and Officer Jerritt Smith resigned to take a job with the Jersey County Sheriff’s Department.
“We had our last meeting of the Personnel Committee on July 12 and what we are trying to do is to bring our force up to six full time people including the Chief, which would put us in good shape going forward in case we lose anyone or someone has to be out for a while,” Personnel Chairman Larry Gillingham said. “We looked hard and found two candidates that are local that are qualified and interested. So, we have extended an offer to Shane Carter and he has accepted, pending council approval. We have another interview coming up next Thursday.”
Carter is currently employed by the City of Roodhouse where he has been an officer since 2019. Apparently, the city has been in negotiations with Carter for quite some time to convince him to make the move to Carrollton.
“We knew that the concept of lateral transfer was coming and that that was Shane’s wish and it was our wish that he not sacrifice anything to come back to his hometown,” Gillingham said. “So, we approached the Shop Steward, Officer Lovel, and he went to the State Office and talked about opening up the contract in order to put Shane on so he would not lose any benefits he has already accrued.”
Actually, Carter lives in Carrollton, worked for the city for many, many years and was even an alderman for four years before deciding to become a police officer.
Before Carter would agree to come to Carrollton, Carrollton had to agree to a “lateral” transfer which means that Carter will basically transfer to Carrollton without losing any seniority or benefits or loss in pay.
The key word here is “benefits.” The city of Roodhouse pays 100 percent of their employees health insurance premiums. Carrollton pays 80 percent and the employee pays 20 percent.
Therefore, in hiring Carter, the city had to approve a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Police Union.
Per this MOU, any applicant who is applying for a police position who is already a police officer with another agency, may be hired and started at a pay level above the then current entry-level pay. However, this pay shall not exceed the “after five year” pay level step and will be commensurate with the number of years of experience the applicant has.
The employee hired at the above entry-level pay will accrue seniority from their hire date and shall still serve a one-year probationary period. The employer agrees to amend language of the Collective Bargaining Agreement to provide that the employer will now cover 100 percent of the premium cost for medical insurance for all employees.
According to City Treasurer Diane Hendricks the city already pays full insurance coverage on all but six of their employees who were hired after a certain date.
Adding the additional 20 percent insurance coverage to these employees will cost approximately $3,000 per employee for a total of $18,000 per year.
As for the other officer, the other candidate the city will choose would have to be sent to the Police Academy. This will cost the city $6,600 plus their wages during the four-month course. Gillingham said they have another interview with the prospective candidates this Thursday.