The Conneaut Lake Regional Police Commission visited a topic that had been broached in February, as to whether or not Sgt. Greg Nichols could become a Certified Tactical Rifle Officer.

During that February meeting, the Commission voiced concerns over budgetary issues and also the need for this type of advanced training.

At that time, Police Chief Todd Pfeifer had stated that it wasn't something totally pressing. He indicated that he wanted to get a feel from the board if they might or might not be interested.

The board imparted that they would like something in writing from Sgt. Nichols and also urged him to explore the situation further.

Since that time, Nichols had been asked to try and find a cheaper training program as well.

At the June meeting of the Commission, the chief imparted to the board that Nichols had spoken with an ex Marine sniper who agreed to loan him a firearm, “until such time that funds would be obtained for him to purchase his own...” He said too that Station 3 offered to hold a fundraiser for training fees.

Pfeifer continued to tell the board that Nichols had already spent some of his own money to purchase materials.

He explained that he had told Nichols on numerous occasions to hold off on any kind of purchases until the board had given total permission for the training.

According to Pfeifer, Nichols had taken the statement “looking for a cheaper school” to mean that it was a “green light.” So, Nichols began to buy some equipment. The chief was not certain what the specific purchases were.

The board had never officially made a decision about sending him to training, nor had they agreed to any kind of special equipment being bought.

After some comments from Conneaut Lake Borough Council President Richard Holabaugh and Sadsbury Supervisor Kevin VanHonk about budgetary issues and the need for such training, Supervisor Whaley summed up the situation.

“Any time something comes before this board we want to know what the best price is. So, yes, we did ask him to wait for something cheaper so we could evaluate and see if it would be possible. That does not mean that if he finds something cheaper, it's going to be a go...”

Conneaut Lake Mayor Tim Kaider chimed in and echoed the above mentioned sentiments. He also said that there had never been any official permission given to Nichols.

With that, the subject was put to bed via formal motion to deny, with the mayor making the motion. Holabaugh seconded it and it was carried.

Moving on to a lighter subject, the department purchased a 2010 cruiser, which was set to be delivered any day now. It has everything necessary, other than the radio, and will be added to the current fleet.

Rather than selling one of the older vehicles, they decided to keep it for as long as possible and perhaps utilize it as and unmarked car.

In other controversial business, hiring a part time secretary for the department was brought to light next. The topic evolved into several other issues before coming back around to the one at hand.

The chief said that his opinion had been that they had been working for a 24/7 department and they had put a plan in motion at the beginning of the year to do so. They had decided to ease into it so that they would not end up in the red.

He said at this time, with the expected expenditures, “I think it's more feasible for us to go with the part time officer and continue to look into, maybe the secretarial position in the 2011 budget...” He said that would give them the 24/7 coverage. At that time, the mayor asked for some clarification and the chief explained.

The reason why 24/7 was a hot topic in the past was due to House Bill 1500 which would see municipalities that are not covered by local departments paying for the State Police services.

The mayor said he thought that bill was dead and Pfeifer said that it had been placed back on the table again. He continued to say that not only is that bill back for discussion but, “there is a bill similar to it conjoining local governments into bigger entities and eliminating the multiple local governments...”