By Joseph Goral
Staff Writer
jgoral@mihomepaper.com
LAKE ORION — The Lake Orion Village Council authorized Manager Darwin McClary’s request for a contract extension with Orion Township for Oakland County Sheriff’s Office (OCSO) Orion Township Substation deputies to continue to provide police services to the village during its meeting on Monday.
The council also approved a budget amendment to pay for the search for a new police chief.
The extension gives the Lake Orion Police Department (LOPD) an extra 60 days to hire more officers, while the budget amendment allows a $10,000 increase of funds for the costs of the police chief position recruitment, and selection process to engage a firm in the search for a new chief for the village.
Village council president Jerry Narsh was absent for the meeting.
Orion Township and OCSO contract extension
Without the extension, the police services contract would expire on May 3. McClary told council he will contact Orion Township Supervisor Chris Barnett to arrange for the extension.
Orion Township and OCSO patrol services cost the village around $41,000 each month, although some of the cost is covered by wage and benefit appropriations in the police fund for vacant positions. OSCO patrol services costs decrease as village department staffing increases, according to a council action summary sheet.
This extension is not the first of its kind – the village authorized a 60-day extension on Feb. 26, that began March 4. The original contract was effective on December 3, 2023, when the village began using the sheriff’s deputies while searching for more police officers.
Although the extension gives the LOPD more time to add officers to their department of two full-time, six part-time and 12 reserve officers, not including acting police chief Thomas Lindberg, Lindberg said he is confident additional officers will be hired soon.
“We have a conditional offer of employment (that was) put out to a young man,” Lindberg said. “If I’m living right and doing everything right, either by the next council meeting or the council meeting after that we’ll be here introducing him to (the village council.) Additionally, I interviewed today with another prospective patrol officer and we have an interview on Thursday with a third prospective patrol officer.”
Contracting services through Orion Township and OCSO began after three LOPD officers resigned to move to other departments. The next village council meeting is scheduled for May 13 and the new extension would end July 3.
Police Chief selection budget amendment
The additional $10,000 added through the amendment will come from the police fund reserves, increasing the total cost to $16,700. The police fund reserve fund has around $330,000, according to McClary.
The first review of applicants will take place on May 3, after which human resource consulting firm EMPCO will conduct an assessment with McClary to help evaluate the knowledge, skills and abilities of semifinalists. The $3,400 assessment will be a written exercise that assesses a candidate’s skills and responses to scenarios that may occur in the position, according to McClary.
EMPCO is a company that specializes in doing testing and recruitment for police and fire employees,” McClary said. “I’ve had experience with them when I was city manager in both Eastpointe and Garden City. EMPCO was one of the firms that we used when we had to do our civil service examination processes. They are highly qualified to do this type of work.”
Candidates with passing scores will interview in front of an oral board of interim police Chief Thomas Lindberg, Lieutenant Todd Stanfield, a police chief or retired chief from outside of the area, and a police department employee. The top three candidates will be submitted to McClary for consideration. Background investigations, costing up to $5,250, will also be conducted on the top three candidates, McClary said.
McClary will conduct interviews with finalists and hold a meet-and-greet between the finalists, village staff, council members and the public. Public attendees at the meet-and-greet can submit confidential written comments and observations to McClary for consideration.
McClary will make a selection and negotiate contract terms before presenting his selection to the village council for confirmation.
The position will remain open until it is filled.