Mayor Keith Gaskin’s initiative to hire a city marshal lived to fight another day, following a unanimous executive session vote from the city council to table the matter for further discussion.
Even that seemed an unlikely outcome following more than a half-hour of fierce debate in open session, during which Police Chief Fred Shelton said unequivocally that he did not think the position was necessary and that the city should raise officer pay instead.
Gaskin asked the council to fill a marshal position at Tuesday’s meeting and said he already had a candidate in mind for the role — someone who already works for the city, though the candidate was never publicly identified. A marshal is allowed under city charter, something Gaskin said a citizen pointed out to him, though Columbus never seems to have had one.
Via a media release and Facebook post, Gaskin announced midday he planned to present a request to hire a city marshal as a separate, autonomous investigator from the police department who would report directly to the mayor. The marshal would have arrest powers, a separate badge and uniform, and would be sworn in as a deputy sheriff, as well. The person would also, according to the mayor’s release, “act as a liaison between victims of crimes and other agencies within the law enforcement community,” as well as working with “all schools in Columbus as a liaison between them and law enforcement.”
The marshal would be retained as an at-will employee, and so would not fall under civil service protections that cover city police officers and firefighters, Gaskin said.
During the council meeting, Gaskin explained he believes hiring a marshal was a creative way of addressing violent crime in Columbus, claiming citizens would be less hesitant to provide the marshal tips than a city police officer. People are scared to give tips, he said, because they think their names will be made public.
“We have a lot of people out there who are scared, and a lot of people who don’t understand why we can’t get a handle on these issues that are out there,” he said. “We hear from the police department that people are worried about things getting out. This position could listen to these sorts of things and help solve these serious crimes.”
Some council members, including Ward 5’s Stephen Jones, pushed back at the need for the position, as well as the notion citizens would trust a marshal more than a city police officer with information.
“He’s going to wear a badge and a gun, and people are going to look at him like he’s police,” said Jones. “… If they’re scared to talk to a police officer, they’re going to be scared to talk to him, also.”
Gaskin briefly addressed the marshal position in comments at the beginning of the meeting but said discussion would occur in executive session since it dealt with “job performance” and a specific candidate.
In a text message to Gaskin, City Attorney Jeff Turnage and all six council members, The Dispatch challenged whether the council could legally go into executive session to create a position.
The council addressed those concerns and Ward 4 Councilman Pierre Beard, with a second from Ward 3’s Rusty Greene, opened the matter to public discussion.
Shelton’s objections
Gaskin’s said the proposed marshal position would offer pay equivalent to a police sergeant, which according to city officials is $19.78 per hour, roughly $47,000 per year based on 40-hour work weeks.
Since Gaskin’s preferred candidate is internal and the police department is 16 officers short of its budgeted staff, funding is already available, both Gaskin and Shelton indicated.
However, while Gaskin claimed he had spoken with the sheriff’s department and Shelton and all seemed in agreement on the need for a marshal, Shelton disagreed, saying creating a marshal position would “kill morale” at the police department.
“My recommendation is taking that money and raising the salaries of our officers to at least $18 an hour so we can be competitive,” Shelton said. “We’re looking at the fleet program and radios and all this stuff, but the main thing we need is manpower.”
Getting the department up to 70 officers would “make a big dent on crime,” Shelton said; he said right now CPD has about 48 and is budgeted for 64.
“We have answered 2,400 calls since Jan. 1,” Shelton said. “… We had eight murders last year, and every one of them was solved. We are working hard, but I think that money would be better served raising our officers salaries.”
Ward 1 Councilwoman Ethel Stewart wasn’t having it either.
“We need to put that money in the police department and increase their salaries so we can have policemen that take care of the crime,” Stewart said. “… Bringing in another person and increasing their salary to take care of this, you’re kidding yourself. You got people putting their life on the line for $15 (an hour) or even less than that.”
Beard, too, leaned on Gaskin to better resource the city’s police department rather than create a new position.
“You said (the marshal) would work hand-in-hand with the sheriff,” Beard said. “But we have a chief of police right now. Give him the authorization to work with the sheriff’s department. … Give him the tools to make his department run efficiently, effectively and proactively.”
Gaskin fired back at Shelton, maintaining the chief had not indicated any misgivings about department morale when they had first spoken about a marshal. He also said the tenor of the open debate was not what he wanted and that he took it personally.
“I am always going to bring what I think are creative ideas that I think can be beneficial to the community,” he said. “I’m not going to let the council turn this on me as if I’m trying to do something negative. …This idea was pure. I was trying to do it in the best way that I can.”
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