Richard McGee is stepping down as the Lewisburg police chief to become the student resource officer for the Tri-County North Local Schools District.
Terry Baver | The Register-Herald
LEWISBURG — Council approved an ordinance creating the position of a school resource officer (SRO) and a pay rate for the position.
The SRO position is for the Tri-County North Local Schools District.
Council also passed a resolution authorizing municipal manager Jeff Sewert to enter into a contract with the Tri-County North board of education in order to provide the SRO to the school district.
According to Sewert, Richard McGee is stepping down as the village’s police chief to become the school district’s SRO officer.
“As council knows, we talked about moving chief McGee into the SRO position and moving it forward,” Sewert said.
Law director Steve Hobbs indicated McGee will remain an employee of the village.
“He will answer to the police chief and the village manager, but other than that, his schedule is up to the superintendent,” Hobbs said.
According to the contract, the SRO “will be under the supervision and exclusive control of the Lewisburg police chief and the Lewisburg municipal manager subject to the school superintendent’s right to control the SRO’s schedule and subject to working exclusively on the Tri-County North Local School District campus, except as otherwise outlined in this agreement.”
Hobbs said McGee’s salary will be $66,000 annually based on a 180-day schedule.
According to the contract, the village “shall present an invoice to the school quarterly.”
The contract states “the invoice will identify the actual costs for the SRO. The school agrees to pay 100 percent of all payroll expenses to include wages, Ohio police and fire pension premium costs, life insurance premium costs and HSA (Health Savings Account) contributions (as provided to all full-time police department employees) attributable solely to the SRO for time spent as the SRO.”
“He’s going to have all of the benefits that any of our other full-time officers have, except for paid vacations,” Hobbs said.
The contract further states “the school shall not be responsible for payroll expense for activities performed as a police officer outside of the SRO duties.”
The contract states the village “shall be responsible for all training costs associated with the SRO except those training costs associated with SRO training. The school shall be responsible for all SRO training costs.”
The contract also states the village “shall maintain all records concerning the performance of personnel assigned under the agreement as SRO and shall make such records available to the school except as maybe restricted by the Ohio Revised Code 149.43.”
The contract states those records include “daily activity logs, monthly reports, semi-annual reports of criminal activities on the school campus, the services provided under this agreement and such other matters as are commonly reported by law enforcement agencies.”
The contract is contingent on approval by the Tri-County North board of education.
Reach Terry Baver at [email protected].
