“It’s a huge step,” Chabali said of the anticipated new hires.
They would come after three new police hires last month, when officers Scott Singleton, Alexander Roush and Scyler Livisburger took their oaths of office.
The township opened a new fire station last year and continues to improve infrastructure, such as the expected Gilmore Road widening this year, in preparation for expected residential and retail growth.
Fairfield Twp. has seen an increase in emergency calls from about 10,000 annually in recent years to 12,500 last year, which has the department hoping for more manpower.
“There are only so many officers that we can hire,” said Chabali. “Hopefully, at some point in time in the future, we will have more funding to increase our staffing if the expansion requires us to have more officers to address more calls.”
Until then, officers will continue to be diligent in patrols and proactive in community engagement with residents and businesses. The department held a "Coffee with a Cop" engagement at Dick's Sporting Goods earlier this month.
The department has hired a part-time property room clerk and installed dashboard cameras, and it is undergoing a department re-branding that started with new uniform shoulder patch.
Chabali also plans to hire a part-time crime prevention specialist focused on community engagement this year. He said he hopes to build on the program started by Mike Oler, who recently retired from that position.
There have been 14 new officers hired since Chabali started in 2017.
The township police department operates on a continuing safety service levy that generates $1.6 million per year. The levy pays for more than half the department’s budget. In 2018, the township’s total police expenses were about $2.7 million with a $1.56 million payroll, according to township records. In 2019, the total police expenses were just more than $2.4 million with a $1.66 million payroll.
This year, the township’s projected budget is $2.35 million with $1.9 million in payroll, according to Fairfield Twp. Fiscal Officer Shelly Schultz.
The township is expecting to start its $1.2 million expansion and remodeling of the police station on Vonnie Vale Court later this year, which could take up to 12 months to complete.
Fairfield Twp. Trustee Shannon Hartkemeyer said the township’s pursuit of fiscal responsibility and its ongoing focus on economic development have helped make the physical expansion possible.
“At the end of the day, this is going to help build a better, stronger police department,” Hartkemeyer said. “We’re building a police department for today — physically with an expanded building and with added personnel — and for the future.”
When Chabali was hired, he said there would be a culture change within the department to become more contemporary. That’s working, he said.
“There was a lot of toxicity and negativism,” Chabali said. “This is the greatest job in the world, and I’ve been in it for a long time and it bothered me to experience a negativism that I experienced in this agency. That is long gone.”
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