The Fayette city council unanimously approved wage and benefit increases and a sign-on bonus for the Fayette Police Department. It also approved a proposal by City Marshal David Ford to share the purchase of a new incinerator for disposing of old drug evidence.

The somewhat heated discussion was hung up when Mayor Greg Stidham considered whether to add similar benefits for other city employees.

Chief Ford had asked the council to increase the starting pay of full-time and reserve officers to $20 an hour, up from $19, to keep up with other nearby departments. He also wanted the city to pay 100% of insurance benefits and include a $1,000 sign-on bonus for new officers.

The increases are meant to help recruit and retain officers. Currently, the department is down two officers, with another on longterm medical leave. It is operating with only five of eight positions filled, not including the City Marshal, which is an elected position.

“We have to do something,” Chief Ford told the council. “It’s a small price to pay. We’re killing the city with overtime.”

Mayor Stidham pondered paying 100% of insurance benefits and adding the sign-on bonus for all city employees, not just police officers. “If we do it, I think it needs to be done for all employees,” he said.

Chief Ford said that is partly why the department is having difficulty hiring and retaining officers. “It’s a special job. You can’t ask these people to come in and do this job and work the hours we work and see the things we’ve seen for $19 an hour. Everybody else around us is making $20, $25, $30. Up towards Columbia, they’re making over almost $80,000 a year for a starting officer.”

Ultimately, Marshal Ford’s request passed with a 5-0 vote. East Ward Alderwoman Stephanie Ford, the wife of Chief Ford, abstained.

The board also approved the purchase of an incinerator that can be used to destroy old evidence from drug cases. The department came under fire after evidence bags from old case files were discarded into a dumpster behind a city building near C&R grocery store on Dec. 9. Many of the bags contained contraband materials and still had case numbers and names plainly visible.

The story was picked up by Columbia media and was recently rehashed by KBIA public radio and the Columbia Missourian newspaper.

The matter came to a head when Fayette resident Stevie Gilpin went before the city council in December to discuss the matter.

The city later admitted its former procedure was insufficient and issued a new policy that states evidence will only be destroyed after a review from the county prosecuting attorney regarding misdemeanors and felonies that have gone to trial, with minimum time periods after case dispositions. Felony, misdemeanor, and ordinance violation cases that were either not filed by the prosecutor or that ended in guilty pleas may be destroyed on the authority of the City Marshal. These also have minimum schedules for destruction.

In addition, the policy states that evidence in all homicide cases, crimes of a sexual nature, or Class A felonies likely to yield fingerprints, hair/fiber, or DNA evidence useful in the identification of involved parties shall be retained indefinitely.

The incinerator comes with a price tag of around $6,000. Chief Ford said he hopes to split the cost three ways with the county and the City of Glasgow, although at the time, Glasgow had not signed on. The fumeless incinerator will be placed in a structure near the county sheds south of Fayette.

Gilpin appeared before the council again on July 9 to follow up. Moments later, the council approved the purchase of the incinerator.

Gilpin indicated that she is, at least in part, satisfied with the city’s decision to purchase the incinerator. She also provided information on drop boxes that can be placed in the community.