FAIRMONT – The Civil Service Commission, which oversees police matters, had much to discuss at its yearly meeting on Tuesday.

For starters, the Fairmont Police Department is looking to hire one more officer in 2026. Police Chief Mike Beletti said the posting was made available on Tuesday on the peace officer job board and the department’s website. While they haven’t done so in the past, Beletti asked if they’d like to put it on some of the more standard job boards.

“I put the deadline of July 31 or until filled,” he said. “We’d obviously like to fill this as soon as possible. As soon as we get the minimum of three applicants in, we’ll review those, and then we’ll ask the board to do interviews, and if we fill it right away, then we’ll take the postings down.”

Beletti clarified it’s not guaranteed they will hire someone from the first fill of applicants.

“We may get three interviews, and we’re like, ‘Okay, we’re just gonna scrap that list and continue waiting for more applications,'” he said.

By having them open at this point, Beletti said it gives them the opportunity to have a vacancy for any college graduates in May. There have been a couple people to reach out, but Beletti said the hiring situation isn’t what it used to be.

“It’d maybe be a two-week posting, and you’d get 40 applicants,” he said. “Now, I see you can have it open for six months and get three. It’s a turnaround.”

Board Member John Korsmo asked about how they stack up to other agencies’ hiring, to which Beletti said they have competitive pay rates, and previous service is taken into account when that is considered.

The conversation then pivoted to the summer intern program. Sergeant Parker Stevens will still be heading up the program, as Beletti said he has done a sensational job.

“Excellent job coordinating the internship program,” he said. “We’ve hired Klay Brown, for example, who was an intern. He’s now a full-time officer with us. Luis Figueroa is full-time with Martin County. Whether or not they get hired with us, they’re getting hired. That’s nice to see we’re having a positive influence. That’s also a good opportunity to get a look at somebody to see how they are.”

Changes to civil service rules were also approved, including updating descriptions for police sergeants and patrol officers, detectives, and records and evidence technicians to make sure their hours worked are up to date.

Part of this included changing how long police sergeants and patrol officers work from 10 to 11.5 hours a day. Beletti said he has heard some disagreements about this, and it is something they are dedicated to monitoring.

“I know there was some floating around the office, not directly to me, that people were concerned about 11 and a half, because it’s long,” he said. “I get it’s an hour and a half longer than normal. It’s not too bad; you get an extra day off every pay period. I think the positives outweigh the negatives. Like I told everybody, if this turns into a disaster, then I’m sorry. I won’t be upset that you don’t like my schedule that I developed, and I’m just trying to help everybody.”

While there was meant to be an annual report update to cap off the meeting, Beletti had to deliver a little bit of bad news.

“Typically, the annual reports draft would be presented to you today,” he said. “It has not been started. We’ve been so busy with other staffing matters in our department. This is a goal of mine to focus on over the next month. I intend to have this completed and presented to the council, probably the second meeting in March, which is typical.”

All items and changes were approved unanimously.