ELYRIA — The Elyria Police Department will have 10 fewer police officers next year.

Some will retire, others will see their rank reduced and pay cut by thousands, and five — the youngest officers on the force — will lose their jobs, said Safety Service Director Chris Eichenlaub.

Monday night, Eichenlaub outlined a cost-cutting plan for 2010 that will have the Police Department covering a large portion of the projected $4 million deficit. To achieve a smaller police budget — $2.05 million less — the department will use a combination of retirements, demotions and layoffs, he said.

“I’m not saying it has to be done today, but it should happen by the end of the year or beginning of next year,” Eichenlaub said during Monday’s City Council meeting.

Council members absorbed the proposed plan without asking any questions, and the meeting lasted only about an hour, with just 20 minutes devoted to the reduction plan.

Mayor Bill Grace said the cuts were regrettable but necessary, considering the difficult financial year Elyria has weathered.
“These are not insignificant by any stretch of the imagination,” he said. “We will be down 10 police officers next year.”

Grace also dismissed any claim that the upcoming recall election affected the reductions.

One doesn’t have anything to do with the other, he said.

“I said before, we needed to cut $4 million, and we are cutting $4 million,” he said.

There was little talk about the recall election at Monday’s meeting, although both Craig Bevan and Kim Ach, co-founders of the recall group Stand Up Elyria, were both in attendance.

The only mention of the upcoming election came from Council President Ken Burkhard, D-7th Ward. He called for a special meeting Wednesday to set a date for the recall election as well as discuss the possibility of a Council resolution in support of Grace.

Many Elyria police officers listened stone-faced to the quick rundown by Eichenlaub of how their department will absorb the multimillion-dollar cuts.

None said anything publicly, but Police Chief Michael Medders had softened the blow with a short memo to his officers earlier in the day.

Medders told his officers in the one-page memo that he wished he had some good news to pass on to then, but he did not.

Instead, he laid out a plan for next year that will see the reduction of four supervisor positions in addition to his and Capt. Robert Hood’s retirement.

The retirement of Hood, who retired earlier this year, and Medders, who is expected to leave by the beginning of 2010, will allow either Capt. Duane Whitely or Capt. Dan Jaykel to move into the position of police chief. In the end, the number of police captains will be reduced from three to one and save roughly $220,000.

Two sergeants will be demoted and returned to the road patrol, for a savings of about $15,000.

Grace said another $375,000 will be saved by the reduction of five patrol officers. However, the net loss of officers on the street will only be three because the sergeants will rejoin the road patrol.

In addition, one officer is accepting a position with the Avon Police Department, and another officer will be deployed to Afghanistan in January, saving the department another $170,000.

The closure of the city jail, which took place in September, will save the department about $1 million next year. The remaining $270,000 will be made up in miscellaneous cuts and the civilian cuts that were already made this year.

The $2.05 million will come from the general fund ($1.8 million) and police levy fund ($250,000).

Medders said he does not know how long the layoffs will be in place. However, “the economy will have to turn around before the officers and civilians can be called back,” he said.

Eichenlaub said nearly every other department funded by the general fund will have to endure cuts to make up the additional $2.25 million needed to close the budget gap.

In addition to the proposed cuts to the Police Department:

• The Health Department will lose $100,000.
• The Municipal Clerk of Court Office will lose $200,000.
• City Hall offices — those of the elected officials and Building Department — will lose $100,000.

That $400,000 reduction may come with more layoffs, but Grace said earlier Monday that it will be up to the department heads to craft a budget.

The Parks and Recreation and Fire Departments survived Monday night without hearing about additional cuts to their departments.

However, both will have to make do in 2010 with the massive cuts they faced this year, as both departments saw dozens of their employees laid off in 2009. Together, the cuts in 2009 will save the city about $1.85 million.

Still, Eichenlaub warned fire officials not to see that as a guarantee that no layoffs will come to the department next year.

“I’m not saying there will be no layoffs in the Fire Department, but in the near future its looks like any cuts that will be made can be accomplished through attrition,” he said.

Fire Chief Rich Benton did not speak about possible cuts. Instead, he asked Council members to carefully review the packet of information he sent them about applying for a federal grant that can be used to pay for firefighters. He wants to get the grant submitted as quickly as possible because it has a deadline of Dec. 18.

Contact Lisa Roberson at 329-7121 or lroberson@chroniclet.com.

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