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Duquesne Council Works to Fill Police Vacancies
By Tom Leturgey
The Tube City Almanac
July 22, 2022
Posted in: Announcements
One Duquesne police officer is resigning to become chief of police in Kiski Twp., and another is leaving for Pleasant Hills.
At this month’s meeting, new police Chief Tom Shaw told Duquesne City Council that two more officers are planning to leave to work in nearby Homestead. That would leave Duquesne with four police officers.
Council voted 4-0, with Councilman Timothy Caldwell absent, to hire one new police officer, under the condition that the candidate pass all physical and psychological tests.
Council approved a measure to advertise for new police officers and test as early as the first week of September. Council approved a measure to eliminate fees for taking the police test and increased the cost to obtain police reports from $10 to $15.
Mayor Scott Adams noted that insurance companies are usually the entities looking to buy those reports.
Shaw asked if the police department would be able to get a new secretary in the police department and he asked about getting a new police car. Officials said that they would look at the money available through the budget. Shaw estimates that the department has not had a new addition to the fleet since “2015 or 2016.”
In other business, the Public Works Department is looking at purchasing a previously-used pickup truck to plow alleyways in the city. Councilman Aaron Adams said that the city’s larger plow trucks are unable to navigate the more narrow alleys and this $33,000 investment could plow and spread salt in the winter months.
Council discussed whether public works employees could begin their jobs earlier in the mornings on excessively hot, “90-degree” days. City Manager Kelly Robertson questioned whether that would be a union issue with potential overtime grievances.
Adams wondered if moving start times would be a “slippery slope” with the employee unions. Solicitor Myron Sainovich said it would be an issue the city would look into.
Adams also asked about bringing scheduled workshop meetings back onto the city’s schedule. A discussion about properly advertising meetings led to Adams saying it was an issue the city would revisit.
Tom Leturgey is a freelance writer based in Pittsburgh and the editor of KSWA Digest, the online news and features home of the Keystone State Wrestling Alliance.
Originally published July 22, 2022.
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