SILVERHILL, Alabama — Silverhill Mayor Jared Lyles said told council members at the Monday, June 17 meeting that he would like to make a decision on hiring a new police chief by the end of the month or the first of next month.
Toby Pearce, a 17-year veteran of the Daphne Police Department, fielded several questions from Lyles and council members during Monday night’s meeting after submitting an application for the chief’s position.
“I live here and welcome the opportunity to serve this community,” Pearce said when asked why he wanted to make the move from Daphne to Silverhill.
Pearce told council members that he started out as an investigator with the department and has served the last several years in community outreach, including supervising the city’s School Resource Officer program.
He is also involved with Special Olympics and the Baldwin County Sheriff’s Department’s Shining Star Program.
Pearce said he understood that Silverhill would mean a much slower pace than the larger city of Daphne and that he considered that “not a bad thing.”
He also understood that the position would not just be a supervisory position but that he would be required to patrol.
Lyles told council members that one other candidate had expressed interest in the position, but that candidate would have to relocate to Silverhill from Illinois.
“I just don’t know that I’m prepared to wait for that to happen,” Lyles said. “I think (Pearce) would be a good fit for this community and in talking to him I think we could pay him what he would require and still have money in the budget to hire an additional officer.”
Lyles also said that he and Pearce were classmates at Fairhope High School, “but we weren’t what I would call close friends and I don’t think I’ve seen him in 17 years.”
Lyles said he had not talked to Pearce’s chief in Daphne, but had talked to several people who have worked with Pearce in some capacity.
“They all say he is a good guy and a good officer. I definitely want to reach out to his chief, but so far I have heard nothing but good things about him.”
Sgt. Daniel Boutwell, who now serves as interim police chief following the resignation of Sgt. John Branscomb on June 3, said whomever becomes chief will have to address the issue of manpower.
“Right now we do not have 24-hour coverage and haven’t since I came here,” Boutwell said. “Even with a chief and another full-time officer, I still think we are going to have to address that issue.”
In addition to the chief, at full strength the town employs four full-time officers and four reserve officers, but the reserve officers are only available for weekend duty, Boutwell said.
In other business June 17, the council approved a 2 percent across the board raise for town employees.
Lyles said a 2 percent raise was budgeted for the 2018-2019 and there was enough money available for all employees to receive the pay increase.
“We have an issue with one employee who received a raise that was not budgeted,” Lyles said, “but we have enough of a budget surplus in other areas to make up for that.”
The council also discussed the uniform budget for the town’s utility department.
“I know that we increased the budget a while back to $400 for clothing, $200 for boots,” Lyles said, “but there is nothing in the town’s personnel policy that addresses uniform policy and it was not even addressed on the last budget.”
Lyles said there is enough money available to provide the budgeted amount for each employee.
“We just need to develop some kind of policy,” he said. “It’s something that needs to be addressed going forward.”
The council also approved the purchase of equipment for Boutwell as the town’s SRO at a cost of $1,550 and approved the purchase of an ad in the 2019-20 Central Baldwin Magazine at a cost of $300.
“I think if we change the ad to promote our Community Center, there is enough of a surplus in the Community Center budget to pay for the ad,” Lyles said.
