Mattawa police chief's plan to adjust salaries halted

MATTAWA - A department-wide salary adjustment requested by Police Chief John Turley of Mayor Judy Esser and the city council was placed on hold for further review at the last council meeting.

But the promotion of Officer Tony Valdivia to Corporal, along with a salary increase for Corporal Valdivia to $25 an hour was unanimously approved by the mayor and council.

Turley went to the council to speak about the importance of salary continuity within the police department. He wanted to establish a more definitive scale at Mattawa.

"At the same time I will address the promotion of Anthony "Tony" Valdivia to patrol sergeant in (view) of his recent certification, First Level Supervision," Turley said.

"Tony has been a consistent performer," he commented. "He has been very dedicated to the City of Mattawa. His performance during a trying time of unrest within the police department with the resignation of Chief Jensen and the administrative leave of another officer left Tony in a somewhat precarious position. I must say Tony performed admirably, and the City of Mattawa should be very proud to say they have an officer that has acted with complete integrity and responsibility."

Valdivia recently completed 40 hours of training with the Washington State Criminal Justice Training Commission "First Level Supervision" course in Spokane.

A former undersheriff, the recently-hired Turley has found there is no established salary range for police department personnel. He noted there is typically a beginning salary that has been determined by using "comparables" of other cities of similar size and/or tax base.

"Usually longevity and attractiveness of working for a certain department is determined by dollars and benefits that a future employee considers before applying to work for any department," Turley said.

"My proposal is to establish a baseline salary that will promote the longevity of an employee or a future employee. My fear is if the City of Mattawa does not establish a bright line path for employees or potential employees to follow, the city will continue to have a difficult time attracting and keeping quality employees."

According to Turley, Mattawa has 43 comparable cities with a population between 2,500 & 7,499. The average salary range for a police officer is $3,821 to $4,753. He proposed that the base starting salary for a police officer in Mattawa should be $22.50 per hour or $3,899.93 per month.

The Mattawa police officers who would be at this range would be Thomas Williams and Michael Stump. The increased expense to the police budget would be approximately $6,466.18 for the remainder of the year 2013.

Valdivia's promotion will increase his monthly salary from $3,898.19 to $4,333.25 per month. The total increase for the remainder of 2013 would be $3,453.17 to the police department budget. The 43 comparable cities average salary for a police sergeant is between $4,997 and $5,627, Turley said.

In the remainder of his report, Turley outlined 30-day accomplishments that will serve the department and community well.

Turley attended the Joint Terrorism Task Force training in Kennewick. There was a segment devoted to eastern Washington gangs, terrorist groups, and drug cartel information.

Turley is continuing to attend weekly safety assessment meetings at the Wahluke School District. These meetings include safety personnel at all schools and transportation supervisors.

Turley attended a joint gang intelligence meeting at the training center of the Yakima Police Department. Gang intelligence was shared among all agencies from Spokane to Umatilla and in parts of Idaho.

The Department of Justice Marshal's Office was a participant along with WSIN (Western States Information Network), Immigration Customs Enforcement, and other inter-agency drug task forces.

Turley attended training by ICE presented at the Grant County Public Works training room in Ephrata. Agents from DOJ/Spokane presented information that is specific in nature to deportation.

"Apparently orders from Washington D.C. are extremely narrow, and deportation is for extreme cases only at this time," Turley said.

Maybeline Mendoza, assistant to Turley, has attended more training on information sharing with county and city agencies. She attend records retention training monthly in Ephrata.

"On May 1, our entire department is traveling to Burien in solidarity support for recruit Thomas Williams who will graduate from the Basic Law Enforcement Academy," Turley said.