Union Township may soon have increased public safety measures in place if a proposal to hire full-time police officers is approved.

Isabella County Sheriff Leo Mioduszewki told township board members Wednesday about increased funding available to his department through the federally-funded COPS Hiring Recovery Program.

The funding would allow the county to use grant money for one or two full-time officers over four years.

“Unfortunately right now, the way that things are at the sheriffs department, we get calls and we go handle them, it’s a reactive approach,” Mioduszewski said.

“This will give us an opportunity, I think, to work with Union Township and actually be proactive.”

Under the proposal, Union Township still would pay maintenance costs such as gas and upkeep on a police vehicle, and would contribute some funding toward the officer’s salary.

But, it would be on a lesser scale at first.

“Basically, you are getting three years at a very, very low rate,” he said.

The catch is that board members must act fast to take advantage of the opportunity.

A federally-mandated deadline of April 14 to submit grant applications means there is not much time to decide on the plan.

Wednesday board members decided to table the issue until their April 8 meeting.

“This is one of the most important public policies the board is going to make for quite awhile,” said Union Township Supervisor John Barker about hiring police officers. “The best way to approach making public policy is to involve our citizens in that process.”

Barker encouraged township residents to share opinions with the board about contracting out public services, especially since the decision must be made at such a hasty rate to take advantage of the grant money. He hopes to look at real figures and how useful the public safety offer would be over the next few days.

If the proposal is approved at the township level, it would go on to the Isabella County Commission, who also must give their consent. County Commissioners, together with the Sheriff’s Department, would ultimately apply for the grant.

“I would like to give our citizens an opportunity to look at where our emails are on our Web site, let us know how they feel,” Barker said. “What the federal government offers us may not be what is best for our community at this particular time.”

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E-mail the author: Heidi Fenton