Quincy plans to give reserve officer benefits

QUINCY - Quincy plans to give insurance and retirement benefits to reserve police officers.

The city council decided to move forward on the proposal during a recent city council meeting. The suggestion came from the Public Safety Commission.

"One of the things that the Public Safety Commission has been talking about is a way to entice more people to become reserve officers," Mayor Jim Hemberry said. "One of the things that Officer (Gus) Winter has been looking into is some plans that other communities have used."

The pension and medical plans are offered through the state's Board of Volunteer Firefighters and Reserve Officers, according to a report from the commission. The pension plan costs $120 a year per officer and requires the city to contribute $90 and the officer to contribute $30. 

The medical plan costs $145 a year per officer, Winter said.

Winter pointed out reserve officers don't get paid for their work, and presently the city doesn't have a retirement system for reserve officers.

"The only thing the city does is they pay the (Labor and Industries) that is required by law," he said. "What this is going to do is allow reserve officers who put in the time to have a pension plan."

Reserve officers would need to serve for 10 years before they could receive the pension, Winter said. The amount the reserve officers receive depends on how long they serve and when they retire.

"If you do 25 years of service and you wait until you're 65 (years old) that reserve officer can actually can earn up to $400 a month after he retires," he said.

Grant County Fire District 3 has participated in the program since the early 1970s, Winter said.

Fire Chief Don Fortier said the district uses the program to keep volunteers.

"A lot of our guys hang on a long time to get that 25 years in to get that pension," he said. "It's a pretty good benefit for what little you put into it. The insurance portion of it has been fantastic. It covers all of our firefighters. There is a firefighter walking around this community today with a heart transplant this paid for. So it is an amazing program for what little you pay into it."

Winter pointed out the relief program would replace the Labor and Industries insurance program, saying state law either requires the city to pay into the board's program or to Labor and Industries for reserve officers.

"Soap Lake has this system. Grant County has this system. Wenatchee, Chelan County, Othello, they have this system," he said. "We have a person that wants to come over, what's going to happen is ...  if we don't have this, his retirement is gone."

If the city adopts the program, the reserve officer's years served would transfer. The same transfer also applies to volunteer firefighters who want to be reserve officers, Winter said.

"I think it's a status quo that we need to maintain if there is any hope for us to get qualified reserves to come to our department," he said.

Councilmember Scott Lybbert thanked Winter for bringing the information to the council, saying it's a great program. He suggested the city pay for the entire amount of both the pension and medical plans.