As a result of a recent loss of officers – due in part to meager pay and low morale --Mayor and Council voted unanimously in favor of re-prioritizing things on the agenda for the town -- putting pay raises and benefits for police higher up on the list.

Chief of Police Rick Anglada said he was shocked to discover that in the last 15 to 20 years -- only six of the officers hired by the department (out of 46) actually stayed with the department long enough to retire. That adds up to an 87-percent loss of trained officers.

Anglada said he was heartened the town is going to address the issue.

“I think it’s a long time coming. We’re in desparate need of new facilities and higher pay to retain officers. Public safety really has to be the number one priority. It’s great having all these ammenities, but if you have no one to protect them, over time, you’ll see a great increase in crime,” Anglada said.

The police department is the single-most expensive department the town operates.

Mayor Cordova said they had to examine officers’ pay to determine if it was competitive with other municipalities, because losing these officers -- after footing the bill for training -- is losing a lot of money as well as compromising public safety.