New pay increases boosting morale

Jul. 8—When Milledgeville Police Chief Dray Swicord and Fire Chief William Collier began talking with city leaders about how important it was to increase the pay for police officers and firefighters, they were also aiming for something else.

It was a morale boosts — something lacking within both the police and fire departments for many months.

Pay increases, some more than $10,000 annually, were agreed to by the mayor and City Council last week for city employees, including those who work in public safety.

"I'm just thankful they (city leaders) recognized the need, and they've given us the ability to at least compete now with other law enforcement agencies trying to compete for police officers," Swicord said in a Thursday telephone interview with The Union-Recorder. "I am very thankful for what they did."

Swicord said he is hopeful that city leaders will continue keeping a handle on the pay scale for uniform officers, detectives and others who work at the police department.

Swicord had sought a 20% pay increase across the board for those who work under him.

Milledgeville City Manager Hank Griffeth said the police chief received just under what he had requested in his new budget for the police department.

"I think he received about 19.5% of what he had requested in his budget for salary increases," Griffeth said.

The lower end personnel received the biggest pay hikes, Swicord said.

"It came out to nearly 20%, so I was very pleased because it's going to help a lot of our officers and their families, and hopefully help us retain some very good officers," Swicord said.

Asked about whether he has noticed a difference in employee morale since it was learned the pay increases had been approved, Swicord was quick to reply.

"Oh, man, it's obviously given them a shot in the arm," Swicord said. "They are proud."

The police chief said that he has authorized a recruiting brochure to be put together so that the police department use it to recruit new police officers to the Milledgeville Police Department.

"With our new starting salary, we've already gotten several calls," Swicord said, noting he was also pleased with his salary increase. "Again, I'm very thankful to the mayor and city council members and our city manager for recognizing the need to increase the pay of all us who work at the police department."

Milledgeville Fire Rescue Services Chief William Collier echoed the police chief's sentiments.

"I am very pleased with mayor and council for adopting a new budget that includes an increase for firefighter salaries," Collier told the newspaper Thursday. "In many cases, they went above the request that I made during the budget cycle. There are still some areas where our more tenured or senior members' salaries that we are going to need to adjust over time, but I think what happens now is based on where our starting salary is now — it creates a tremendous platform to build careers, retain members, and to be competitive with other departments around us."

Collier said Milledgeville Fire Rescue Services now has the "framework" to build on retention and honor those members who go above and beyond, and those who are the more seasoned and tenured firefighters.

"We now have the framework to build on all of those things now," Collier said.

The veteran fire chief said the younger firefighters are enthusiastic about the new pay increases.

"Some of the more tenured members were hoping for a little bit better, but it's still a significant hike ever for some of the more tenured members," Collier said, noting he understood that in the new budget the fire department wouldn't receive everything he had requested at one time.

Collier said salaries is a concern that will need to be addressed every year when city budget talks get underway.

"Every year, you have to look at other departments around you to see what they are paying, so they you can at least be competitive," Collier said. "You have to look at the general trends of the economy, too, because people cannot live off $30,000 a year, and that was the starting point for our firefighters. It is now $46,000."