SGT. SCOTT GRIFFITH (foreground) addresses the Owensville Board of Aldermen on Monday during a closed session at City Hall. K-9 officer Billy Coello, Amy Morris, and Seth Criswell are also pictured.

Ordinance No. 1048 amends the city administrator’s duties to include oversight of the city’s police force. The position had previously included oversight of all other city departments but not the police. John Tracy said the issue of have the administrator act as personnel officer for the entire city was discussed when he first took the position. Those duties were added and then later taken away in action by the board.

 “The administrator is now over personnel matters for the police department,” said Tracy. Those duties include forming a pay plan and classification system for all departments. With consultation of department heads, and now including the city marshal,  the administrator may also approve advancements and appropriate pay increases as allowed by the city’s pay scale. The administrator also had the authority to “appoint and remove all subordinate employees.”

The board’s action came when they returned to open session following a nearly 2-hour, 45-minute long closed session on Feb. 1. After meeting alone for about 10 minutes with their attorney, Owensville aldermen met for most of the remainder of the closed session with members of its police department, said Tracy.

Joe Purschke, the city’s attorney, was present at the request of the Board of Aldermen. He was not present on Jan. 20 when the board met with the city’s police force and its elected City Marshal, Robert Rickerd. Rickerd was presented for the open portion of the meeting Monday but did not meet with the board in closed session, confirmed Tracy.

The board went into closed session by themselves and their attorney at about 7:30 p.m. and invited four police officers into the meeting about 10 minutes later. Police participating in the closed-door meeting included Sgt. Scott Griffith, K-9 handler Billy Coello, and patrol officers Seth Criswell and Amy Morris.

No action was taken following the discussion with the police officers. Tracy said he expects the board will meet with Rickerd in a closed-session discussion scheduled for Tuesday, Feb. 16. The city’s regularly scheduled meeting day of the second Monday of the month has been rescheduled due to the President’s Day holiday. “They’ll probably visit with the chief at that time,” said Tracy. “That’s about as much as I should probably say. It was a rather lengthy meeting.”

Police officers were instructed to not disclose what was discussed  in either of the two closed sessions.

“They went in there to talk to the board about some stuff,” said Rickerd. “They (the board) changed the ordinance so that the city administrator will help me in doing the day-to-day operations. Myself and John worked on this. He will assist me in the day-to-day operations.”

Rickerd said he had spoken with the board at their January meeting about the ordinance. “They agreed and changed the city administrator’s ordinance,” said Rickerd. “They amended the ordinance and he will assist me.”