Following a mandate from the state, the Jamestown Police Department is looking to hire up to eight matrons or female employees for the Jamestown City Jail.

The hiring of these eight employees is set to be discussed at tonight’s City Council meeting in the form of a resolution asking to suspend the hiring freeze implemented in 2002. According to the council agenda, the department does not currently employ anyone in the matron role. The state has now mandated that at least one matron or female employee is required to be present anytime a female inmate is brought into the facility.

Matrons would be on-call employees and only work when there is a female inmate in the city jail. They would be paid $20 an hour, and the city council agenda notes that there is no funding for the filling of these positions in the 2025 budget.

Also on the agenda are resolutions to accept the state funding for the police department through the State Discovery Grant Program and the State Governor’s Traffic Safety Committee Police Traffic Services Program, along with the renewal of the city’s contract for School Resource Officers in the Jamestown Public Schools.

The council’s work session begins at 7:30 p.m. Monday in the police training room on the fourth floor of city hall. Council committees meet before the work session. The Housing Committee meets at 6:30 p.m. in the police training room with the Finance Committee at 7 p.m. in the mayor’s fourth floor conference room, the Public Safety Committee in the police training room at 7 p.m. and the Public Works Committee in the Development Department conference room at 7 p.m.