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It’s been a situation of taking one step forward and two steps back; in getting the Wyoming Police department up to a full roster lately,  and last week was no exception. Public Safety Director and Police Chief Neil Bauer presented a resignation to the city council from an officer, which was accepted.  Then, Bauer reported the agency won a grant that should be helpful addressing chronic hiring issues in the law enforcement sector.

Agencies everywhere in the state are dealing with difficulty in filling openings.  Application numbers for law enforcement posts have dipped markedly in the last few years and officers still-in-school are being recruited.

Bauer meanwhile, applied for a Peace Officer Training and Education Grant and he informed the city council that Wyoming won $50,000.

Anybody with a four-year degree in any field can apply for funds to cover expenses of studies for officer training and costs for testing.   Bauer expects the program funding to run between October 2024 and the following April or approximately seven months.  The successful candidate will be licensed by the POST Board as a Minnesota Peace Officer and has a job waiting.

This was an informational item and did not require any council action last week.

Council unanimously awarded the bid for the trunk watermain and force main  projects on deck. The $1,043,000 bid is from Northdale Construction, which engineer Mark Erichson said he has worked with in other areas, and is quite acceptable.  He reports three bids came in, which is to be expected because this type of work calls for some specialized equipment.

Wyoming has earmarked $450,000 of its American Recovery Program Act  monies to this and the remainder will come out of the water and sewer accounts dedicated to capital expenses.

The full council also approved the ARMER agreement for 2025 and 2026.  The emergency radio contract spells out the details for users and subscribers (lease and not lease of equipment) and costs to participate.

City Administrator Robb Linwood commented that costs (fees) will increase but the county for this two-year contract identified what it thought was fair to spread over agreement parties and the county as a whole should pick-up.  He cautioned that expectations are that the state radio communications system is going to need upgrading, and the council should be discussing how to address this looming liability.

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