Ben Troche and Randall Holcomb, Lakewood mayor, are pictured during a previous Lakewood Village Board meeting. P-J file photo by Michael Zabrodsky

LAKEWOOD – Lakewood Trustees want to retain the village’s police officers.

So trustees, on Sept. 9, approved a measure to increase salaries six percent for officers within the Lakewood-Busti Police Department.

Trustee Ben Troche told other trustees that the village had two police officers – one full-time, and one part-time, recently resign their positions. Troche added that the village has had difficulty recruiting new officers based on a discrepancy in pay when compared to other police departments in the county and region.

Village officials are concerned that more officers may have resigned if action was not taken.

“Currently, police departments across this county and region are incredibly short staffed – we are no exception,” Troche said. “We’ve had two openings since the beginning of June that have remained unfilled.”

Troche added that the village also would like to be able to attract and recruit potential officers. He said that interested people balked at taking the open positions, and cited salaries as the reasons.

Troche added that the current contract between the village and police union is set to expire in May 2025, and with the approval of the resolution, negotiations for a successor contract have begun. Also, trustees authorized an additional pay raise of three percent totalling nine percent over current salaries. The pay raises would have taken effect on the first pay period after the resolution was approved.

Troche said that because of the resignations “Our dedicated officers have been working around the clock with little days off the last few months to guarantee the services our village and town (of Busti) residents expect.”

Mayor Randy Holcomb noted that because of the resignations, officers were scheduled to work longer shifts. Now, Holcomb said, officers can go back to working regular 8-hour shifts.

Troche added that he and other village officials recognized the officers who have been doing their best at filling extra patrols and working the extra time as needed.

“This needed to happen,” Holcomb said of the pay increases. “I’m extremely pleased. I believe there has been interest (in the positions) since that (Sept.9) meeting.”

It was time to move forward, Troche noted, and that the Lakewood-Busti Police officers needed assistance.

Holcomb agreed.

“It was time for the board of trustees to act, which we finally did,” Troche said. “The demand is high with low supply so we had to adjust our pay schedules to better fit the local market and attract new officers just like other departments have in this area.”

Holcomb said now the goal is to wrap up union negotiations by May 2025.