I am completing this a little early as I leave for vacation on May 1st and will not be back until May 17th. Budget process continues and we have presented a balanced budget. Balancing the budget meant not filling two vacant positions at the current time. The traffic officer position will be pulled back into a patrol position for this biennium unless at least one of the positions are filled.

The hiring process that was started in late February was completed as we anticipated hiring at least one officer to fill the vacant patrol slot. The process was a success and yielded far more eligible applicants than the last time we recruited for an officer. The top three candidates were selected and notified of their status on our list. Since taking those positions out of the budget, no offers of employment have been made to any of the top candidates. We will keep the list active until further notice while exploring other funding options with council.

The records department has nearly completed all the training for the fingerprinting program and we are set to begin in May. Our staff has already begun to take walk ins but the scheduling of fingerprinting will not formerly begin until approximately the second week of May. We are excited to once again offer this service to our citizens.