The hiring of new police officers in the city will once again be a focus for the City Council – this time in the form of resolutions looking to help fix the problem.

During the last City Council meeting in December it was discussed how the police department in the city is severely understaffed, with 58 officers instead of the budgeted 62 or usual 65. Police Chief Timothy Jackson expressed his wish to hire more soon, including saying that a few interviews have already been set and held. Monday’s agenda includes two resolutions suspending the hiring freeze in the city for police officers originally enacted in 2002 and extended to full-time employees in 2006.

The agenda states that it has become apparent that within the Jamestown Police Department an effort to effectively manage the city’s day-to-day responsibilities in a cost-efficient manner requires the hiring freeze to be lifted, and that in order to protect the citizens of the city of Jamestown it is necessary to maintain police officer staffing levels. The total fiscal impact to hire an officer is $60,536.26. Funding for these positions is included in the 2025 Budget.

The resolutions look to hire five new police officers and one new court security officer, which is a position noted to be recently vacant. The New York State Office of Court Administration reimburses the City of Jamestown for all hours worked by the Court Security Staff. OCA also reimburses the City for the cost of full-time benefits, as long as the City does not exceed the allotted funding, and there is minimal cost to the city to hire a new court security officer.

The council’s Housing Committee meets at 6:30 p.m. in the police training room on the fourth floor of City Hall. The Finance (mayor’s fourth floor conference room), Public Safety (police training room) and Public Works (Development Department conference room) committees meet at 7 p.m.