Sgt. LeRoy Gross and Sgt. Sid Mann of the Jamestown Police Department told the Jamestown Police and Fire Committee Tuesday that low wages paid by the department are hampering the force.
"It is about wages, but I'm telling you, 90 percent of it is about backup," Gross said. "They need trained officers working with them on the street."
Gross said the Jamestown Police Department currently has 11 patrolmen with less than 20 months of experience.
Sgt. Brian Miller, training officer for the police department, said the lack of experience creates problems.
"Nearly half of our police department has little to no experience," he wrote in a letter to the Jamestown City Council. "This is a big problem for our growing community."
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Mann said the police department could use more officers but is unable to fill the vacancies it currently has.
Jamestown Police Chief Scott Edinger said the department was authorized two additional officers in the 2015 budget but had been unable to fill the positions. The last advertised opening had one applicant.
The two additional officers authorized for 2015 brings the department to 31 authorized officers. The department currently has three jobs unfilled and several other officers still undergoing training.
"This is something I've been bringing to the council for two and a half years," Edinger said. "Officers in Jamestown will make what a Dunn County sheriff's deputy starts at after 16 years."
Gross said the department has lost four officers to the Stutsman County Sheriff's Office in recent years. Deputies at Stutsman County make about $3,600 more per year than Jamestown police officers and are required to pay about $4,400 less toward a family insurance policy. Jamestown Mayor Katie Andersen appointed Councilman Charlie Kourajian to meet with representatives of the Jamestown police force and city administrators.
In other business, the Jamestown Public Works Committee denied a request to allow Jefferson Bus Lines busses to cross the City Hall parking lot.
Kourajian, who has spearheaded efforts to find a bus stop in Jamestown, said a garage behind First Congregational United Church of Christ had been volunteered for use as a bus stop.
Andersen and City Engineer Reed Schwartzkopf said the bus would have a difficult time exiting the alley especially in times when cars were parked along the street.
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The city will also explore contracting with Scherbenske Inc. to make repairs to some of the storm sewer pipes' roofs in southeast Jamestown. The need for repairs was found during a cleaning by Scherbenske this winter.
The failure of the roofs have resulted in traffic being diverted from the center of some streets out of fear the storm sewer could collapse.
Schwartzkopf said the repairs would be temporary with the intent of replacing the storm sewer main in the next one to three years.
