Pandemic forces police to hire extra staffer to keep building clean

When the coronavirus was declared a pandemic, the Moose Jaw Police Service (MJPS) realized it needed one more employee to help keep its building and vehicles extra clean.

To fill this position, the MJPS asked the board of police commissioners during its April 1 meeting to be allowed to hire another employee for its building maintenance team for $3,000 per month, for the duration of the pandemic. The police commissioners unanimously agreed.

The organization already has one full-time building maintenance position, with the functions of this position augmented when required by contracted suppliers for specific additional purposes, such as electrical or plumbing services, explained police Chief Rick Bourassa.

The declaration of the pandemic has led to an increase in sanitation demands, including the need to keep the MJPS’s building, detention centre and vehicles better maintained to minimize any transmission of the virus. “We’ve been very, very happy with our maintenance, however, we also knew with this increased risk, we had to bump that up,” he said.

Since some municipal-owned buildings have closed due to the coronavirus, the police service temporarily hired one of those city employees to help with maintenance. The organization plans to reimburse the municipality the full cost of using that employee.

The MJPS will absorb the cost of having to hire the full-time building maintenance employee, Bourassa said. There is some surplus money that can be accessed, but the police chief thought the cost could be managed with what’s available.

“These are extraordinary times and we have to do what we need to do,” said Commissioner Mary Lee Booth. “It’s a no-brainer at this point.”

The next board of police commissioners meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, May 19.