On April 2, Clinton voters will have the opportunity to vote for a Public Safety Tax of one-half cent on the ballot. Approval of the tax will enable Clinton’s Fire and Police Departments to increase citizen safety with an increase in firemen and police road officers on each shift. It will also provide a more competitive pay salary for retention and recruiting purposes and will allow emergency funds for miscellaneous needs.
Clinton City Council members will host a Public Safety Tax Informational Meeting to discuss the issue and provide information on Tuesday, March 26, in the Cummings Room at the Benson Center. It begins at 6 P.M. Attending the meeting to help answer questions will be Fire Chief Mark Manuel, Assistant Fire Chief Matt Willings, Police Chief Kevin Miller and Deputy Chiefs Captain John Scott and Captain Paul Abbot.
“The Police and Fire Department personnel have asked the City Council for additional personnel, but the city has not been allowed by statute to put a Public Safety Tax on the ballot until now,” said Clinton Mayor Carla Moberly. “Senate Bill 186, signed by Governor Parson in July 2023, authorizes the city to put a public safety tax question to a vote.
Mayor Moberly said that in 2017 the city approved a one-quarter percent fire protection tax, but it could only be used for the purchase of fire trucks, vehicles, and the addition of an assistant fire chief.
Fire Chief Mark Manuel said that his department is looking to hire six new firefighters. He said that there are currently four on each shift, and they can sometimes supplement with volunteer firefighters, but they usually have other jobs and are not always available.
“Now we have two on the truck and two fighting fires during a fire call,” said Chief Manuel. “But, when personnel are off for vacations or illness, it can result in a shortage that could put our firefighters in harm’s way as well as the citizens that we are protecting. We can’t perform to the best of our ability.”
Chief Manuel said that recently a man got stuck in a grain bin up to his chest with more grain falling on him. It took nine firefighters to rescue him, and that was because it happened during a shift change and both shifts were available. Normally there would have only been four to rescue him.
Chief Manuel said that the level of staffing in the department has not changed since 1975 when the department had about 250 calls a year. Last year they responded to 1500 calls. These calls included fires, car accidents, medical incidents, inspections on local businesses and other matters. He discussed the fire protection tax of 2017 saying that all that money was spoken for and is used to maintain and upgrading the fleet.
“We are not sitting idle when not on calls,” said Chief Manuel. “We are busy all day doing a lot of public education in schools, teaching businesses how to use fire extinguishers, and training for weather safety and awareness. When we are on duty and not responding to a call we are doing our own training. We spend about two days a month training on top of our regular schedule.”
Captain John Scott, one of two Deputy Police Chiefs in Clinton, said his department needs people and equipment.
“We are asking for four additional road officers, one for each of our four shifts,” said Scott. “It doesn’t take much to go from four down to two officers with time off for leave or illness. Two officers are the bare minimum, and an additional staff member would give us at least three. If there is a car wreck we can take care of it, but it is better with more officers. An extra person will mean better response time, more safety, and less overtime costs to cover absences.”
Captain Scott said that if the Public Safety Tax passes, the income will be shared equally by the Fire and Police Departments. A pie graph depicting the percentage of new tax money going for specific needs in each department can be viewed on the Clinton Police Department Facebook page.
“A revised pay schedule is important to help our departments recruit and retain,” said Scott. “Our starting pay is not comparable to surrounding communities. It used to be that a lot of people applied for jobs with our department, but that is no longer happening.”
Captain Scott said that there were 944 calls to the Police Department in January 2024, or an average of over 30 calls a day, and some of those days 30 calls are being handled by only two road officers. He said that the number of calls increase in the summer and some of them take hours.
