The saga of one town’s police chief

He said the low salaries created a major issue for the department, which had problems attracting new officers and keeping the veteran ones.

“[New officers] would get experience and then move on to another town,” agreed Glade Spring Treasurer Carter Ratliff.
Mullins said the high turnover rate also cost the town because it would spend a few thousand dollars to send new recruits through 18 weeks of training at the police academy, only to see them leave for other departments.

Mullins took his concerns to Town Council members – including Mayor Steve Rowland and Councilwoman Sharon Gilliam – during the spring while they were working on this year’s budget.

“We knew we were probably not where we needed to be,” said Gilliam, chairwoman of the council’s budget committee.
She asked town staff to call nearby localities and find out how much money their employees earned and where Glade Spring stacked up while the town was drafting this year’s budget.

She said the study was part of an overall town effort to revamp its personnel structure. Town officials also rewrote employee job descriptions and set up a system of merit pay increases.

After the raises, Mullins’ salary went from $24,688 per year to $31,000. The salary given to a typical Glade Spring police officer went from $15,600 per year to $24,960.

The town also gave raises to its other employees, but Rowland said none were as much as what Mullins or the other police officer received because other employees were earning a salary on par with their counterparts.

He said the town did not have to raise its tax rate to pay for the raises and instead used money it saved from hiring part-time employees to cover its cost.

Even with the raise, Mullins’ salary still falls a few thousand dollars short of police chiefs in Appalachia, Clintwood, Weber City and Rural Retreat in Virginia, and Bluff City, Tenn. They earn an average salary of $33,700. All five localities are home to between 1,300 and 1,800 residents.

“Would I like to make more money?” Mullins asked. “Oh, yeah. Of course.”
Pennington Gap Police Chief Barry Cottrell finds himself in a similar situation. His town has a population of 1,756 residents and his salary last year was about $7,000 below the average for his peers.

“When you go into police work, you know you’re never going to get rich,” said Cottrell, who earned $26,000 last year while the town’s acting police chief.

Cottrell said his department also has experienced a high turnover rate in the past few years. Some of his employees simply realized they weren’t cut out for police work, though others left for higher pay.

Pennington Gap Vice Mayor Larry Fish said the high turnover rate among the town’s police will continue as long as there are more prosperous neighboring towns.

“If you’ve only got X number of bucks coming in, then you’ve only got X number of bucks to spend,” Fish said. “That’s a fact of life, and there’s nothing you can do about it.”

But Fish said Pennington Gap is taking a serious look at its employee salaries and pay scale. Town officials have been working to get information to see whether its employees are paid on par with similar localities.

“No decisions have been made,” Fish said, adding that the town is merely investigating and has taken no formal action.

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